


Sit and Watch the Sunlight Fade

by Guillotines_out



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Canon, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Childhood Trauma, Crushes, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Katara doesn't hate Zuko ever, Kissing, M/M, No Homophobia, POV Zuko (Avatar), Toph and Zuko are bros, War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-21
Updated: 2020-07-10
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:02:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 26,518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24829540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Guillotines_out/pseuds/Guillotines_out
Summary: Zuko joins team avatar in Ba Sing Se.Excerpt: “everyone is capable of unimaginable things, but not everyone is pushed the same way. I don’t want to see my father die, but it’s what needs to be done. He is a terrible person who has irreversibly hurt thousands of people,” Zuko rubbed his scarred eye softly, “me included.”
Relationships: Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 21
Kudos: 490





	1. Lee

**Author's Note:**

> I've always wondered what would have happened if Zuko had joined the gaang earlier and didn't have to go through all that pain again. While I think the show had a good reason (it really helped show his family dynamic and his backstory) it just didn't sit quite right with me. 
> 
> Also in this first chapter I follow a lot of the dialogue from the show because it is so important to Zuko's character growth, but after he joins team avatar it won't really follow the show at all.

Ba Sing Se was becoming suffocating. Zuko had great things in his horizons and now he spent his days cleaning up after customers while his uncle chatted and enjoyed his time at the tea shop. He kept his swirling emotions down in order to keep his uncle happy, but their current situation was neither satisfying nor enjoyable for him. Is this how he is meant to spend the rest of their days? Hiding in Ba Sing Se from his sister and father and going on dates where he couldn’t even be his true self? It was infuriating, but worst of all it was deserved.

“Your life is about to change for the better,” the man who offered Uncle the new tea shop beamed at him as he passed by with a tray of dirty cups.

“I’ll try to contain my joy,” Zuko sighed out as he set down the tray and stepped outside for a break.

Zuko leaned against the wall and breathed out his frustrations. His uncle was so happy now, although he is usually fairly content with any situation, but Zuko had never seen his uncle smile so often as he had in Ba Sing Se. It would be so much simpler for Zuko to live a simple life of working for his uncle in a nice city, but his soul was currently lost and the city wasn’t doing anything to help find it. Although what was Zuko supposed to do? He lost any trace of the Avatar and his sister is almost certainly hunting him down, even if capturing her brother was a secondary goal for her. 

Anger and frustration have been his motivators since he was banished. They aren’t doing him any good now, though, what with being stuck in a run down tea shop. Those emotions no longer motivate him; instead they consume him from the inside out while he wipes down sticky counters and bites his tongue in front of rude customers. His destiny is larger than the worst parts of Ba Sing Se. He knows he is meant to be doing something at this moment, but he needs a tether to help him climb out of this chasm he’s found himself in.

It seems like destiny works quickly because he snatched a flyer out of the air with the Avatar’s bison front and center. He climbed onto the roof of the tea shop and saw a trail of flyers floating down. The flyers trailed to a small smudge the was most assuredly the Avatar gliding above the city.

Destiny was a tricky lady, but Zuko knew that this was his last chance to fulfill his life’s purpose. He couldn’t fail again, not like in the North Pole. This time he would capture the Avatar and show his uncle that they deserved to be back in the palace alongside their family.

__*__*__*__

Closing the shop after a long day was a newfound form of punishment, Zuko swears it. It was always made worse by Uncle’s constant happiness at their situation.

“So I was thinking about names for my new tea shop. How about the Jasmine Dragon? It’s dramatic, poetic, has a nice ring to it.” Uncle told him as soon as he entered the apartment. Zuko removed the flyer of the lost bison from his shirt and handed it over to Uncle.

“The Avatar is here in Ba Sing Se and he’s lost his bison” Zuko’s mind already began to whirr with ideas and plans to find said bison.

“We have a chance for a new life here. If you start stirring up trouble, we could lose all the good things that are happening for us.” Uncle stated flatly.

“Good things that are happening for you. Have you ever thought that I want more from life than a nice apartment and a job serving tea?” How could his uncle not understand; how could just ask Zuko to give up his destiny just so Uncle could start his new shop?

“There is nothing wrong with a life of peace and prosperity. I suggest you think about what it is that you want from your life and why.” Of course Uncle would say those things. A rather simple life for a seemingly simple man; But Zuko knew better than to fall for that routine, Uncle could hold his own easily. That doesn’t change the fact that Zuko has only just begun his journey while his uncle is reaching the end of his own journey.

Zuko looked out the window fiercely determined, “I want my destiny.” He stood his ground as he tried to hold the anger at bay.

“What that means is up to you” Uncle stated loudly as Zuko stormed off to the bathroom to clean up after his long day of work. Staring at the mirror only made his anger worse, and added a touch of revulsion as he saw how far he had fallen. Seeing his shaggy hair and scar only strengthened his resolve; he will capture the Avatar and return his honor along with his place at the palace.

__*__*__*__

Zuko donned the blue spirit disguise and began searching for the bison. He had stuffed his bag with various vegetables just in case he needed to trap the bison somewhere. Luckily for him the bison was secured underground and was unlikely to kill him as the situation stood. It was still a very unpleasant predicament because the huge animal kept growling and stomping its feet at Zuko.

The removal process may be more difficult than Zuko originally anticipated.

“So, the blue spirit?” Uncle’s voice surprised Zuko. 

Zuko turned around and removed his mask, “what are you doing here?”

“I was just about to ask you the same thing.” Uncle moved towards him, speaking calmly but sternly. “What do you plan to do now that you’ve found the Avatar’s bison? Keep it locked in our new apartment, should I go put a pot of tea on for him?”

Zuko grit his teeth, “first I have to get it out of here.”

“And then what?” Uncle’s voice began to rise in irritation. “You never think these things through. This is exactly what happened when you captured the avatar in the north pole. You had him and then you had nowhere to go.” 

“I would have figured something out,” Zuko responded. His anger quickly turned to frustration at the whole situation.

Uncle seemed to become even more annoyed at Zuko’s response, “No! if his friends hadn’t found you, you would have frozen to death!” Zuko turned away from his uncle, refusing to face this truth.

“I know my own destiny uncle.”

“Is it your own destiny or is it a destiny someone else has tried to force on you?”

“Stop it, uncle. I have to do this.” Zuko knew his destiny, he did, he was sure of it. How could he just throw away the last three years of his life for a stupid bison. 

Uncle’s voice began calming and returned to his more neutral state. “I am begging you, prince Zuko. It is time for you to look inward and begin asking yourself the big questions. Who are you and what do you want?”

Who is he? This is the first time that anyone had outright prodded at his wounds like this. How could uncle say these things to him? Zuko threw his swords and mask on the floor in irritation and disgust at himself. Zuko held his head in his shaking hands. He wanted his honor, he wanted his honor because that will restore his birthright, that is all. Zuko has gone through this thought process hundreds of times, but now his uncle is forcing him to look at it again, from a new light. His father chose his destiny, but destiny is not a thing a parent can choose, it is something the fates decide for a person. 

He just wants to go back to before he ever spoke out, when his mom was by his side through everything. But she is gone now, and he has Uncle to help him get through this. Uncle is extremely smart, in his own way, and he is very skilled. It makes sense, even if he does get the bison out, what then? He doesn’t have an army or any means to get the Avatar back to his father. It makes more sense for him to release the bison and find other means to restore his honor.

With the decision finally made and a headache forming at his temples Zuko approached the bison. It immediately started growling and stamping its feet again. Zuko pulled out a cabbage and tossed it to the large animal. The bison caught it easily and seemed to be instantly won over. Zuko sighed as he pulled out a carrot and tossed it in a large arc towards the bison as it seemed to easily snatch it out of the air.

“Let’s get this thing out of here then” Zuko relented and began searching for some way to release the bison.

Uncle came to his side and put a heavy hand on his shoulder, “I’m proud of you prince Zuko.”

Zuko sagged at that and held back his roaring mix of emotions at his uncle using his title so easily and comfortingly.

__*__*__*__

Zuko had to knock out a guard to steal the keys to let the bison out, but after that the thing followed him easily out of the tunnels. It helped that Zuko left a bit of a “bread-crumb” trail with the remaining carrots, leeks, and radishes he had in his bag. Once the three of them found an opening large enough for the huge bison to squeeze through; which was a traumatizing experience wherein he and his uncle had to push the damn thing through the opening as it seemed to have claustrophobia. Go figure.

Once they persuaded (the pushing didn't work too much but Zuko throwing the last of the food out the opening did the trick) the bison out into the open they retreated back into the tunnels to find an alternate escape route.

“What are you thinking?” Uncle asked politely, brushing some dirt off the hem of his sleeve.

Zuko did not feel like talking at the moment, but he would rather give a simple and grumpy answer than stew in his emotions.

“I’m thinking about how I just let my one lead on the Avatar go.”

His uncle gave a soft chuckle in response and went silent for a few minutes before speaking again, “I’m glad you let him go, in the long run it is a horrible feeling to use an innocent life to trap your enemy. I know the feeling well.” Uncle Iroh looked down and grimaced. Zuko stayed silent.

__*__*__*__

Zuko dragged his swords into his apartment, exhaustion filling his bones and dragging him down. Uncle mumbled something to him, but he could hardly hear over the rushing sound in his ears, “I don’t feel right.” His vision blurred and the pressure in his head increased into an excruciating thumping pain. His limbs were useless as he fell to the ground and blacked out.

__*__*__*__

Pale light would occasionally break through to him, but mostly the soft sound of his uncle’s voice soothed his swirling mind until he could fall back asleep. His body burned unnaturally and his tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth.

__*__*__*__

His body felt at war with itself; even when his scar was healing he never felt as vulnerable and weak as he did now.

“You should know this is not a natural sickness, but that shouldn’t stop you from enjoying tea,” Uncle helped him sit up to sip an earthy smelling tea. It wasn’t too strong and helped settle his aching stomach. His hearing tuned in and out of their conversation, but what stuck out the most was his uncle saying, “You’re going through a metamorphosis, my nephew. It will not be a pleasant experience.”

Zuko faded back into an uncomfortable sleep as his uncle spoke soothingly to him and dapped his forehead with a cool damp cloth. Like his mother did when he was sick. It was nice.

__*__*__*__

Zuko always knew subconsciously that his father has never and will never love him. But he was always great at compartmentalizing those feelings away because fathers don’t have to love their children, that’s what mothers do. Fathers are there to be proud of their children and to make their children stronger. His father did not love him, but his father cared for him. Why else would his father send him to redeem his honor. His father cared deeply to try and make Zuko a strong person. But he has failed his father so many times now that he has no chance of making him proud.

Uncle doesn’t want him to be strong like his father wants him to be strong, but Uncle is a contradiction in and of himself. His uncle is strong when need be and soft the rest of the time. His uncle confuses Zuko often, but he loves his uncle like he loved his mother and respects his uncle like he does his father.

Zuko’s sickness stems from his failures and shortcomings. It has to. He is holding onto his dream of catching the Avatar and redeeming his honor for his father and country. But now that Uncle has opened his eyes to other possibilities for his life, it is futile to view the last three years of his life with the determined mindset he had before. He wants to go back to when he just found the Avatar and his hope burst like fireworks. But fireworks are the worst form of fire; they pop bright and loud but fizzle out quickly. His hope to redeem himself has done the same. 

He can no longer gloss over his father sending him away on a pointless mission. The Avatar was assumed dead and his father banished him with no thought to if he would ever return. His father sends out untrained troops to die in death marches. His father did the same to his own son, and Zuko has been forced to see this truth.

What will he do now? How could he possibly continue on his old path.

He can’t.

Zuko’s eyes fluttered open and he wobbled up from his bed. He walked himself over to the trough of water and cleaned himself off. When he looked in the mirror he saw himself as the Avatar. He jolted in shock and when he looked back at the mirror he only saw himself. His shaggy hair and scar facing him again. He knew he had to betray his father and help the Avatar.

__*__*__*__

Ba Sing Se’s climate was similar to Zuko’s homelands, but there was always something off. It’s a dryer heat that used to make his skin itch but now had a wonderful balming sensation; like he could sit under the sun and let his skin tingle and muscles relax. He felt calm and centered for the first time in his life.

The scent of something creamy, salty, and more than likely fulfilling wafted to him, “what’s that smell?” he asked Uncle.

His uncle stirred a pot of boiling white cream, “It’s jook. I’m sure you wouldn’t like it.” Uncle glanced at him knowingly, as if he knew Zuko’s every reaction. To be fair his uncle knew him very well, but today felt different to Zuko.

He leaned over the pot and inhaled heavily; the breakfast smelled hearty and homely, very fitting for his current mood. “Actually, it smells delicious. I’d love a bowl, Uncle.”

His uncle side eyed him suspiciously, “now that your fever is gone, you seem different somehow.” Uncle poured him a bowl while looking him over, as if Zuko was still sick.

Zuko shrugged and took a sip of the jook, “It’s a new day, we’ve got a new apartment, new furniture and today’s the grand opening of your new tea shop. Things are looking up, uncle.” The feeling of peace and rightness was nearly euphoric after his last three years of uncertainty. He feels like he understands his uncle more than ever. He wants to sit in this moment for the rest of his life. Of course, a morning only lasts a few hours and he will have to get ready for work in a bit, but it feels nice to bask.

__*__*__*__

Zuko was sweeping the (much cleaner) floors of the new tea shop when his uncle announced that they would be serving the king himself tea. A few days ago, the news would’ve boiled Zuko’s blood with anger at the audacity, but today Zuko was just happy to see his uncle so ecstatic. Zuko hasn’t seen him like that in a long time.


	2. Decisions, Decisions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> follows the events of book 2 episode 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading and for the support it’s very motivating. I’m not holding myself to a posting schedule, but I do plan on finishing this monster. I want it to be very clear that I will be focusing a lot on the effects of trauma in this fic because I think it is something the canon didn’t have time to completely flesh out. I also want to mention that the trauma and how Zuko reacts to it will be biased by my own experiences, but I will also write him how I believe his character would react to processing trauma. Especially the guilt factor because I believe that at some point Zuko would put his family’s past discretions on himself, especially as firelord, but I’m not writing him as the firelord so I’ll explore it as he integrates into the gaang.

Uncle spent all night deciding which tea to prepare for the Earth king and he made Zuko taste test every single one. Usually Zuko would’ve swatted the tea away from his face, but today was still a good day and he didn’t feel the usual annoyance and anger at his uncle’s antics.

They left earlier than necessary so they wouldn’t be late. Uncle carried all his proper tea serving items as they made the long walk to the Earth Kingdom palace. “Many times I imagined myself here, at the threshold of the palace. But I always thought I would be here as a conqueror. Instead, we are the Earth King’s personal guests, here to serve him tea. Destiny is a funny thing.” Uncle seemed satisfied with how his destiny worked out, even though the benefits are infinitesimal compared to what Uncle originally imagined. Oddly enough, this didn’t bother Zuko as much as he thought it would.

“It sure is, uncle.”

__*__*__*__

Once they were shown into the palace and sat at an intimate table they worked on setting the tea out. Zuko enjoyed it despite the monotony. Although he was getting a bit annoyed at how late the Earth King was. The King probably had a good reason, but it was still rude.

“What’s taking so long?” Zuko asked.

“Maybe the Earth King overslept,” Uncle replied easily and unworried.

Zuko would have argued, but the Dai Lee surrounded the pair. Zuko felt unsettled as he leaned in to whisper to Uncle, “something’s not right.”

“It’s tea time.”

Azula.

Zuko stiffened and stood up at the sound of her voice. His ears roared as he tried to calm his now very frayed nerves and his heartbeat picked up.

Uncle stood beside him and delicately sipped his tea, “did I ever tell you how I got the nickname the dragon of the west?”

Azula waved a hand at Uncle in dismissal “I’m not interested in a lengthy anecdote, Uncle.”

“It’s more of a demonstration, really.”

Uncle sipped more tea and yanked Zuko behind him. Uncle then blew out large flames from his mouth and then pivoted to keep all the Dai Lee agents back with the fire. Zuko blasted through the nearest wall and ran out as Uncle followed. They booked it down the halls until they ran into a dead end. Uncle shot lightning at the wall and recklessly jumped onto the topiaries.

“Come one! You’ll be fine!” Uncle shouted from below.

“No,” Zuko had just found happiness in Ba Sing Se. He refused to be run out of every town they settled. Zuko was determined as he told Uncle, “I’m tired of running. It’s time I faced Azula.” He turned from his Uncle and marched straight to Azula and her agents. He has grown since they last saw each other and he knew he could hold his own against her and finally be free from his past.

Azula smirked at his return, “you’re so dramatic. What, are you going to challenge me to an Agni Kai?”

Zuko clenched his fists, “yes, I challenge you.”

Azula closed her eyes and looked nearly peaceful at his challenge. That never meant anything good for Zuko. She sounded cocky as she replied, “no thanks.”

Zuko fluidly amassed a fireball in front of himself and shot it at Azula. The Dai Lee easily blocked the attack before the flying hands trapped him on the ground. Azula never fights fair and he probably should’ve escaped with Uncle. However, he knew he would rather end this now, with whatever the fates decide will happen to him next, than run for the rest of his life as his own family hunted him for sport.

__*__*__*__

Zuko landed roughly at the bottom of a low-lit cave where minerals grew from the earth like tall grass. He sat up and crossed his legs, his back to the water tribe girl who is friends with the Avatar.

The girl huffed and stamped her foot at him, “why did they throw you in here? Oh wait, let me guess, it’s a trap so when Aang shows up to help me you can finally have him in your little fire nation clutches.” Zuko could hear her fumbling around behind him. He figured it’s very likely she was mocking him.

“You’re a terrible person, you know that?” She continued, “always following us, hunting the Avatar, trying to capture the world’s last hope for peace.” Her voice suddenly turned dour, “but what do you care? You’re the firelord’s son. Spreading war and violence and hatred is in your blood.”

Zuko felt brittle, “you don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I don’t? How dare you!” her hurt and anger clear in her intonations, “you have no idea what this war has put me through. Me, personally. The fire nation took my mother away from me.” Zuko could faintly hear sniffles and he felt disgusted at his home once again.

“I’m sorry.” Zuko’s eyes prickled at the thought, “that’s something we have in common.” He turned around and saw the girl crouched on the ground sobbing. He felt a strong kinship with her. They’ve both lost loved ones to this war, as have an immense amount of other kids who’ve felt the direct effects of the war. If he were in this girl's position he would feel the same way towards himself. He and his family have done unforgivable things to helpless people.

It felt like an eternity passed before the girl stood and spoke. Her tone was much more subdued now, “I’m sorry I yelled at you before.”

Zuko looked away, he knew she was right to say those things, “It doesn’t matter.”

She seemed genuinely regretful as she spoke, “it’s just that for so long now, whenever I would imagine the face of the enemy, it was your face.”

Zuko prodded at his scar, “My face. I see.” It still stung when someone pointed out his scar as a mark of his betrayals, even if it was deserved.

The girl waved her hands in front of herself, “no, no, that’s not what I meant.”

“It’s okay,” Zuko sighed, “I used to think this scar marked me. The mark of the banished prince, cursed to chase the Avatar forever. But lately, I’ve realized I’m free to determine my own destiny, even if I’ll never be free of my mark.”

“Maybe you could be free of it,” the girl said thoughtfully.

“What?” Zuko looked at her, confused.

“I have healing abilities,” she said hopefully.

Zuko internally balked at her idea, “it’s a scar. It can’t be healed.” Zuko would know, he spent the majority of his early travels attempting to find salves or remedies. He eventually accepted the scarring, he believed once he was accepted back into his family his scar would be a symbol of his father’s tests and his worthiness for succeeding. That dream hasn’t seemed very likely recently.

The girl retrieved a vial and held it out in front of Zuko. Beautiful blues and whites decorating the small, mysterious tincture. “This is water from the spirit oasis at the North Pole. It has special properties, so I’ve been saving it for something important. I don’t know if it would work, but. . .” He closed his eyes reverently and felt cool finterips tracing his scar. It surprisingly didn’t feel invasive; It felt like a relieving balm. This was the first person to ever tell him he didn’t deserve to be imprisoned with his banishment and dishonor. The mixing emotions of happiness and shame roiled within him and made his chest constrict.

Suddenly, a portion of the cave very close to them collapsed. The Avatar lowered his earthbending stance and stood tall, well tall for a child. The water tribe girl immediately left his side and hugged the Avatar, who gave Zuko a sharp look over the girl’s shoulder.

He was surprised to be attacked into a bear hug by his uncle. Zuko didn’t return the hug, uncomfortable with showing such weakness for his uncle in front of the Avatar once again. Although he did allow his uncle to stay close until Uncle calmed down from his worried state and released Zuko, but stayed nearby.

Once they were situated Zuko was aghast as he questioned Uncle’s motives, “Uncle, I don’t understand. What are you doing with the Avatar?”

The Avatar was immediately aggravated by Zuko and huffed out, “saving you, that’s what.”

Zuko lunged at the Avatar, easily annoyed by the bratty attitude. Uncle held him back and waved off the pair, instructing them to find their friends. Curiously enough, the Avatar bowed respectfully at his uncle before running off. Zuko supposed Uncle had that effect on some people, but it was a rarity within the fire nation. Uncle’s peers only had a grudging respect for his past acts as a general, but now sneered at his soft-bellied ways.

Zuko felt vaguely betrayed by his uncle siding with the Avatar, “Why, Uncle?”

“You are not the man you used to be, Zuko. You are stronger and wiser and freer than you have ever been, and now you have come to the crossroads of your destiny. It’s time for you to choose. It’s time for you to choose good.”

Zuko refused eye contact during the heartfelt speech, his mind was at war with itself. Was Zuko being foolish yesterday by believing he could find peace at siding with the Avatar? The Avatar was so close to him now and he could easily swoop in right now and restore his old life, the one he was destined for. Is that even what he wanted anymore?

The ground shook as Uncle was quickly encased in the minerals of the cave. Zuko instinctively lowered into a defense stance. The biting sound of his sister’s overbearing tone came from behind the two earthbenders who captured Uncle, “I expected this kind of treachery from Uncle, but Zuko, Prince Zuko, you’re a lot of things, but you’re not a traitor, are you?”

“Release him, immediately,” Zuko was calm but stern, it never worked with Azula, but in Zuko’s defense there wasn’t any arguing or negotiating with Azula.

“It’s not too late for you, Zuko. You can still redeem yourself.” She always knew exactly what buttons of his to press, it was irritating as young children but absolutely infuriating now.

“The kind of redemption she offers is not for you,” Uncle is an even-tempered person, but Azula knew how to get under everybody’s skin, and Zuko could hear the desperation in Uncle’s tone.

“Why don’t you let him decide, Uncle?” Azula snapped, then faced Zuko with a childlike pleading look on her face, “I need you, Zuko. I’ve plotted every move of this day, this glorious day in fire nation history, and the only way we win is together. At the end of this day, you will have your honor back. You will have father’s love. You will have everything you want.”

Everything he wants; what even is that now?

Uncle put on his ‘advice giving’ voice, as Zuko liked to call it, “Zuko, I am begging you, look into your heart and see what it is that you truly want.”

What he truly wants. What he truly wants is love and unconditional acceptance, just like everyone else wants, but very few people get to experience.

Azula waved off her two earthbender guards, “You are free to choose.” Azula then left them alone in the cave with uncle still encased in the crystal trap.

Zuko would laugh if this wasn’t one of the most confusing days of his life, free to choose? Zuko knew his sister very well after all these years, but her most persistent personality trait was lying.

__*__*__*__

“You must go help the Avatar, nephew. If Azula has the entire Dai Lee behind her then they are in real trouble,” Uncle nearly commanded.

“What about you?” Zuko was concerned that his uncle would be trapped forever under the Earth Kingdom if he left right now. But uncle just smiled brightly at him and shooed him off before saying, “I’ll make it out just fine, now go.”

Zuko’s hesitation morphed into a firm determination. He removed the outer layer of his clothing and ripped the wide, long sleeves off. If he was going to face Azula he had to remove all restrictions. No holds barred.

Oh dear god, what is he doing? He can’t take down his sister; especially not after what she said. But if he went with her then Uncle would surely be taken as prisoner and how in the world could he just act like everything was normal as the man who thought of Zuko as his own son was rotting away in his own nation. He couldn’t, he wouldn’t, do that to Uncle.

Zuko heard clattering and the grunts of fighting up ahead and he sped into a sprint. Azula could’ve already taken down the Avatar while Zuko was worrying over his own place in the world.

He reached the cavern and saw Azula, the Avatar, and the water tribe girl at a standstill. Zuko felt his anger and anxiety forcefully direct his chi into amassing a large and unruly fire, which he directed between the Avatar and Azula. His Knee-jerk reaction focused the three’s attention onto Zuko. Whoops. He moved closer and stood between Azula and the Avatar. This was his last chance to side with his sister, and if he didn’t do that she would definitely kill him, and honestly so might the Avatar (considering their past, Zuko wouldn’t blame the kid).

Zuko glanced at the two, allowing the situation to settle in his mind. Azula didn’t even like Zuko when they were younger, she would poke and prod at his insecurities about his poor fire-bending, she would giggle while father berated him, she laughed when he was banished. Zuko couldn’t help the rising anger broiling in his chest, his fists shaking slightly. His chi sparking to escape his body. He never fully understood Azula, but he felt a fondness towards her nonetheless. Despite everything she was family, someone who would always have a stake in his life and would care if he died. She wasn’t a monster, she just differed from Zuko.

Unfortunately, the ways she differed from Zuko were detrimental to everyone Zuko loves. He finally allowed his chi to move from his body as he attacked Azula. His movements were rocky and awkward as he flung fireballs at Azula while she expertly dodged them. He felt like a child once again, like when they would duel and Zuko would be defeated again and again by his younger sister.

The Avatar and the water tribe girl finally seemed to shake their shock at Zuko’s actions and began to help him hold Azula back. Before Zuko had shown up she was already having to split her attention, but now she held little chance of beating them all on her own.

Of course, Azula wouldn’t put herself in this position for long. Dai Lee agents sprung up around them just as the water tribe girl had caught Azula’s arm and leg in water. One of them could give a finishing blow and take Azula out right now. Zuko could remove the huge threat that is his sister, but he choked and the Dai Lee easily broke the water that was connecting the two girls.

The three of them were surrounded by at least fifteen agents. There was no way they could take out all the agents and his sister.

The water tribe girl formed a circle of tentacles and looked ready to die fighting Azula. Zuko formed two fire ‘swords’ in his own hands, following her lead. Before either could move the Avatar suddenly encased himself in crystals. Zuko looked at the girl to share in his confusion, but her eyes stuck to where the Avatar just was.

Zuko focused back onto the crystals again just as an ethereal light shot forth from the crystals, wait no, from the Avatar. Dear Agni, Zuko was witnessing the Avatar state, and from this close he had very little faith that he would survive.

Before his fear could fully set in the Avatar began convulsing. Zuko looked to his sister, his sister who had just attacked and most likely killed the Avatar in the Avatar state.

Zuko was knocked over by a wave of water. He coughed out some of the inhaled water and looked to the Avatar to check if he was actually now attacking them all. But no, the water tribe girl was holding the unconscious (or dead his mind supplied unhelpfully) Avatar. 

Azula moved towards the girl threateningly. Before she could get too close a wall of heat and fire split between Azula and the three of them. Zuko looked to the source and saw Uncle jumping from his ledge to land in front of Zuko protectively.

“You’ve got to get out of here!” Uncle shouted, “I’ll hold them off as long as I can.”

Zuko reignited his fire and took a defensive stance next to Uncle.

Uncle gave him a pitying look as he said, “no nephew, you too, protect the Avatar.”

Zuko’s face fell, then hardened into determination as he chased after the girl. She had begun moving upwards in a whirl of water so Zuko had to trust that she was too distracted to kick him in the face as he jumped and held onto her ankle with a death grip. He felt her tense, but continued to move upward. Zuko’s heart beat heavily in his chest and the sound bounced in his body to ring in his ears. He cast one last glance at his uncle moving from an attack stance to a passive stance, his hands held low in surrender.

As soon as they were above ground the water tribe girl shook Zuko off and he landed heavily with a thud as the girl landed softly with the movement of the water. The Avatar’s sky bison landed before them and the water tribe boy screeched, “look out behind you! It’s Zuko!”

The girl simply glared at the boy and made her way onto the bison, “hurry up Zuko, we need to get out of here.”

Zuko’s breathing shuttered, she wanted him to go with them? He was still on the floor, leaning on his elbows as he faced the Avatar’s friends. Why would they allow him to escape with them?

The girl set the Avatar gently onto the bison’s head and sent her death glare towards Zuko this time, “Zuko, now.” Her voice brooked no argument and the sheer command in her voice made him scramble up the bison’s back hastily. The beast lifted off the ground in one large push and Zuko held onto the thing’s fur for dear life. He spared one last glance back before forcing himself to look forward.

The water tribe girl was holding the spirit oasis vial in her palm. The small amount of water spun and lit up in her hands as she pressed it into the Avatar’s back. The Avatar sucked in a quick breath and the girl’s hardened exterior melted into a softness that felt violating for Zuko to see such an intimate moment.

__*__*__*__

“So are we just going to ignore the fact that the person who followed us all across the world and tried, and failed, multiple times to capture Aang?” The water tribe boy pondered incredulously. The boy kept giving Zuko the stink eye and sat opposite him on the bison, near the Avatar.

The water tribe girl replied with a wet, angry growl, “we have more important things to focus on right now, Sokka.” She held the Avatar close to her chest and it made the reality of the boy even more stark. How could Zuko have been so blinded to believe that finding and handing a young boy off to his father to die was something Zuko could ever do. It made him nauseous just to think about. 

When he was first banished he was so blinded by his anger and hurt that the Avatar seemed like an abstract idea. But now, the Avatar was right in front of him, in the body of a child, and he was so close to death Zuko wasn’t very confident the kid would make it. Zuko’s stomach was in knots; he turned away from the group and looked back at the Earth Kingdom where his uncle had been captured. He didn’t think Azula would kill Uncle, but his father might. 

He lost so much in just one night.

__*__*__*__

“So, Zuko, I’m Toph. I missed all the adventures of you trying to kill the Avatar. Sounds like it was pretty fun, but you don’t seem like a bad dude.” The blind Earthbender, Toph, said out of nowhere. The water tribesman glanced over at the pair of them as if they were plotting to kill him. 

Zuko chose not to respond to her.

“I mean you fought with us,” she prodded.

“Plus I like your uncle, he gives great advice,” Toph leaned back, effectively ending the conversation.

Zuko felt both sick and warmhearted at the mention of his uncle, “yeah, he is a smart man,” He mumbled.

__*__*__*__

It was nearing daybreak when the water tribe girl finally left the Avatar’s side, the water tribe boy now holding onto the Avatar. She sat a fair distance from Zuko and stared at him silently. He felt uncomfortable with her piercing gaze following him and figured he might as well break the ice just so she would leave him alone.

“So, I don’t think I ever got your name.”

The girl stared even harder at him, eyes narrowing slightly, “you don’t know my name but you followed me around the globe?”

Zuko felt warm in embarrassment, “well I was really following the Avatar and It’s not like you ever introduced yourself during our fights.” He cleared his throat at the following silence.

Her posture loosened a bit as she broke their eye contact, “I guess that’s fair. I’m Katara and my brother’s name is Sokka,” she pointed to the water tribesman who was looking at their interaction with disdain and mistrust. “And I guess Toph already introduced herself, so. . .”

“And the Avatar? What’s his name?” Zuko felt his name was the most important. The entire time he searched for the Avatar he never even knew his name. The Avatar wasn’t ever just the Avatar, he was this wonderkid, and he has a name.

Katara looked shocked again, but reigned it in much easier this time, “Um, his name is Aang.”

Zuko stewed in this newfound information. Something his father would find inconsequential, but his uncle would probably find fitting for the boy.

Katara made a fake throat clearing noise to get his attention once again, and Zuko looked at her poignant expression with trepidation. “I’m sorry, Zuko. I used the water from the spirit oasis to heal Aang, and I would save him again no matter the circumstance. But I am sorry I promised something I can no longer deliver on.”

Zuko remained silent for a moment before finally relaxing his tensed position, “it’s okay Katara, I would have said no anyways.”

Katara leaned back in slight shock, “really? Why?”

Zuko thought about his response for a moment before answering, “Well it’s a part of my past. It has defined a lot of my life. I’m not sure I would ever be ready to get rid of my scar. Ever since I got it I thought of it as a curse, and it definitely isn’t a blessing, but. . . it is a reminder of who my father is.”

“You don’t need a physical reminder of who your father is,” she told him sternly, “once the war is won you can put him behind you.”

“I wish I could do that but I won’t ever be able to, Katara.”

“Why not?”

“Can you put your mother behind you?”

“No, but she wasn’t a war criminal.”

“True,” Zuko hung his head as a headache built at the base of his skull, “but it’s more complicated than that. I can’t fully explain it, but I can’t pretend that the things he has done to me never happened, because they did. I just want to never end up like him.”

“You won’t,” Katara looked as though nobody could tell her otherwise, “I know that you are a completely different person than your father, Zuko.”

His headache didn’t ease, but his chest felt less constricted at her words, “Thanks.”

Katara nodded and resumed her post beside Aang.

The sun began to peak over the horizon for daybreak. His body ached from the fighting, his head was fuzzy with exhaustion, and his eyes were dry from the wind. At least he found solace in the fact that Uncle was proud of his choice, even if Zuko was still unsettled by his own choices in the last twenty-four hours.

Tomorrow is a new day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From here on out I will not be following the dialogue in the show at all, and that includes the second half of book 3.


	3. Escape

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I keep thinking I'm making Zuko too dramatic but he really is just like that.

Destiny was a twisted thing. Zuko had just escaped being arrested by the fire nation and, in his family’s eyes, he abdicated his role as prince of the fire nation. Now he was hiding as a fire nation soldier on a fire nation ship that held the healing Avatar below deck. Not too long ago he was on a very similar ship hunting the Avatar. Back then he was the leader and held all the control, but now he was the lowest ranking one on the ship--he was even below Appa, which was quite the blow to his already dwindling self-esteem. The only ones who would try to chat with him were Katara and Toph. Although Katara mainly just voiced her concerns over Aang’s healing and stewed in anger over her father without mentioning what it was he did. Overall, Zuko felt he was in a pretty terrible position and was very close to just jumping over the railing and swimming back to land.

It had only been two nights, but Zuko felt it was his time to leave these insane people behind.

Zuko had removed one shoe and was working on the other, but he paused at the sound of someone walking up to him.

“What are you doing?” Sokka sounded dubious as he came to stand next to Zuko.

“I’m going to swim to the nearest island and live off the land,” Zuko tried to keep his voice flat, going for sarcasm but he knew it came off too desperate.

“You’re going to swim in the ocean. At midnight.” the mistrust morphed into confusion and a hint of puzzlement As if Zuko was going insane. Okay maybe Sokka had a point, but he’s never been around this many unknown people at once, and he doesn’t do well with social interactions.

Zuko sighed and put his shoes back on, “did you need something?”

Sokka stared at him for a moment, probably trying to figure out if Zuko was sane enough to even speak to. He must have figured something out because he shook his head and turned to face Zuko head on, “what do you know about the fire kingdom’s layout?”

That shocked Zuko right back to the reality of their situations, “why do you want to know?” At moments like this Zuko wished he could keep a cool head, but he was never a good diplomat and was always quick to anger.

Sokka looked self-satisfied, like he was soaking up some unknown personal victory. Sokka then pulled some papers from his satchel and rifled through some of them before responding, “I don’t want to go into the invasion blind, but the fire nation has kept all their maps on lockdown. We know the general layout, but it would be helpful, especially for Aang, if we knew the kingdom and palace's schematics.”

Zuko frowned at that, his gut churning in anxiety, “your plan is to charge straight to the palace, I don’t see why you need a map for that.” Zuko knew war very intimately after being submerged in it for three years now. He knew that casualties were not only very common due to recklessness, but he knew many soldiers who harmed townspeoples just because they could. Even if he wasn’t currently prince of the fire nation, he still cared for his people deeply and refused to take part in an invasion with unnecessary harm.

Sokka now seemed irritated at Zuko’s refusal to comply and he waved his papers around in the cold night air as if they meant something to Zuko, “we need as much information as possible if we are going to succeed. Plus, Aang needs to know where to find Ozai, or else he will be running around fighting guards and wasting time; which could ruin our whole invasion.”

Zuko’s rage began to flicker in response to Sokka’s intensity, “I’ll go with Aang and show him where to go myself. I have to get up there anyways and find my uncle.” Zuko gripped the railing tightly and let his anger work its way through his body and flow out of his hands; the metal of the railing had begun to glow a dull red from the heat of his anger.

Sokka’s arms dropped from the air and he seemed less irritated and more pitying now, “you think your uncle is in a prison at the palace?” Sokka then shoved his papers back into the worn satchel uncaringly.

Zuko refused to let his anger turn to worry, if he began to worry about his uncle he would be a wreck and he absolutely could not be a wreck right now.

“Yes, my sister wouldn’t kill my uncle,” Zuko refused to consider the actions of his father in regards to Uncle.

Sokka shook his head as if Zuko was an idiot, “no, I mean how do you know he is in prison at the palace and not one of the other island prisons that isn’t as vulnerable?”

Zuko couldn’t help but look at Sokka with the same incomprehension, “my uncle is too dangerous for that, he would easily get out of those prisons. No, Azula will put him in a prison that she can keep an eye on.”

Sokka seemed to accept that answer. He easily redirected focus to the original topic, “well, if you don’t want to draw a whole map of the fire nation, could you at least help us with the most direct route that avoids as many towns as possible? It’s a little hard to do when you don’t know where the towns are.”

Zuko gave Sokka an appraising look and was faintly shocked that the boy was genuine. Zuko wasn’t the best at reading people, but he could see that Sokka wouldn’t intentionally harm civilians. He didn’t seem like a malicious person. “Okay, what maps do you have? They'd probably help jog my memory of the area.”

Sokka didn’t fully trust him, but he seemed to know when to work together for a common goal, and that was enough for Zuko.

__*__*__*__

Zuko was running through breathing exercises at the front of the ship when Toph came up to him and whacked him right in the stomach, forcing him to bend over in pain and struggle to catch his breath.

“What was that for?” Zuko wheezed out, rubbing the sore spot on his stomach.

Toph just shrugged and smiled, “that’s how I show affection.”

Zuko stood upright, “well I think you just chi blocked me,” he scolded.

“I bet I could learn chi blocking all on my own, let me practice on you,” Toph’s excitement was palpable as she started jabbing Zuko roughly in the side.

“Stop that,” Zuko shoved her back, but she just started poking his bicep instead, “did you want something from me or did you just come here to harass me?”

Toph stopped trying to give him a dead-arm and knocked his hand from her, “I just came to have our daily chat, Katara and Sokka have gone insane. Unfortunately you are the only somewhat okay one left in the group.”

Zuko felt his cheeks heat at being included into the group, even though Toph has been the only one to say that so far. “Thanks, I guess?”

“Ya know we are pretty similar,” Toph tilted her head thoughtfully, placing a finger on her chin.

Zuko glanced at her, not sure if he should be insulted that she thought he was similar to a thirteen year old girl who was often mean to the people she spent time around. “How do you figure?”

“Well, we both come from wealthy families, we are both amazing benders--I would totally beat you in battle though--and we both have vision problems,” she chuckled softly at that, “we have to stick together otherwise Katara and Sokka will drive us both insane.”

Zuko folded his arms stubbornly, “I really want to argue with you, but you make some great points.”

Toph smiled satisfactorily and leaned against the railing

“How’d you know I have vision issues?” Zuko pointed out curiously.

“Sokka mentioned it when he was describing the ‘crazy dude who keeps trying to steal Aang’. He really doesn’t like you ya know?”

Zuko rolled his eyes and huffed, “yeah I got the hint.”

After a moment of oddly peaceful silence Toph pushed the conversation forward, “so, did you ever run away?”

“Um, yeah I think I still have a bounty on my head,” Zuko was a bit flabbergasted to the girl’s line of questioning.

She smiled like he was an idiot and shook her head, “no I meant as a kid. I ran away from my overbearing parents a bunch of times. I even got lost in some caves at one point and that’s where I learned earthbending.”

“You learned earthbending from the caves?”

Toph was now looking at him like he was hopeless, “I learned from the badgermoles. They’re blind like me so they were much better teachers than my human tutor.”

Zuko hummed in thought at her story, “I wish there were still dragons around to learn from, but it’s alright because my uncle is an amazing teacher.”

“Your uncle taught you firebending? He doesn’t seem like the fighting type.”

“He was a war general, so I had tutors as a kid, but once I was banished my uncle began to teach me. Now he only fights in defense, I’m not too sure why because he was once the greatest fire bender in the fire nation.” Zuko rubbed his eyes, already exhausted even though it was only morning. He hasn’t exactly been sleeping the best knowing his uncle was currently being held prisoner, and he was surrounded by people who had very good reasons to just dump him overboard.

Toph seemed to sense the somber change in his mood, “maybe we should wait for your uncle to teach Aang firebending instead of you then,” she leaned back from the railing and poked him in the ribs with her elbows teasingly.

Zuko huffed a light laugh, “yeah right, as if the Avatar would even want my help learning firebending. I’m sure he could find someone else.”

“Aw come on, I’m sure you aren’t that bad of a teacher. Besides, it’s not like we’ve found firebenders just jumping at the chance to teach the Avatar. That tap is a bit dry at the moment,” Toph snorted a dry laugh at that.

Zuko didn’t respond. He figured they’d be able to find someone in the colonies, although it makes sense that firebenders in the colonies and poorer areas of the kingdom weren’t able to bypass the draft like those who lived near the palace.

“I guess we will have to see what happens when the Avatar wakes up. He may not even need to learn firebending if the invasion is successful, and considering how neurotic Sokka is about the plans I don’t foresee Aang failing," he reluctantly responded.

Toph shrugged, “either way he’ll need a teacher, and I’m sure it will take some getting used to for him and Sokka, but they’ll get over it. I constantly fought with Katara when I first started flying with them, now look at us.”

Zuko looked at her in disbelief, “Toph, you and Katara still fight constantly.”

“Yeah, but it was worse back then,” Toph smirked evilly.

“You are not making me feel any better right now,” Zuko shook his head. Great, he was already afraid of getting on Katara’s bad side. He was lucky she took pity on him and didn’t hold a grudge. Although she seemed more occupied with both Aang and her father. Zuko’s past was probably a far off afterthought for her right now. Once they get off this ship she might demand reparations, which is fair, but Katara seems like the type of person to really put a person to work for their redemption.

“Quit being such a wimp. Everything will work itself out, or Aang will say no and kick you out of the group and give you back to the fire nation. Either way something interesting will happen.”

Zuko rolled his eyes, “thanks, you made me feel very confident about this,” Zuko sighed and wrung his hands together, “I’ll offer, but he still has to accept.”

Toph seemed satisfied with that answer at least.

“You never answered my question.”

“What question?” Zuko combed his fingers through his increasingly dirty hair, trying to untangle the huge knot that has been stuck there since yesterday.

“Were you a runaway like me? I’d love to hear stories of the firelord trying to fight the war while his little brat kid just keeps sneaking out,” Toph snickered to herself.

Zuko removed a dagger from his hip and just slashed the stupid chunk of hair off in anger and threw it over the edge of the ship.

“No, I tried once or twice to hide in the gardens but my father didn’t care, my mom eventually found me. When he was told what happened he said he’d rather I run away so he didn’t need to bother with my antics.”

Toph hid her shock well enough, but he knew she was surprised to hear this, “okay, that’s a tough one. I guess I was at the other end where my parents freaked out instantly and tried to find me before their ‘precious, weak daughter died walking into a ditch’.”

Zuko wasn’t sure what to say to that; their experiences were extremely different, and Zuko wasn’t good with others’ emotions to begin with.

Toph continued after a couple stilted minutes of silence, “I know I shouldn’t complain. My parents gave me everything I ever asked for. But they never gave me the one thing that I really wanted--their love, you know what I mean?”

Zuko clasped his shaky hands together, “yeah, I do.”

Toph gave Zuko a watery smile, punched him on the arm once again--Agni what is wrong with her, why can’t she just hug him like a normal person--and stomped off. Zuko squoze the blood back into his arm muscles and rubbed the sore spot. He felt much more sure of himself now, and he supposed being similar to Toph isn’t the worst comparison.

__*__*__*__

Zuko was walking to the kitchens to grab some lunch when he was yanked by his shirt sleeve towards the middle of the ship. Sokka was tugging at him like he was on a mission. Can't he have one day that doesn’t involve Sokka’s invasion planning? It was bad enough that he was still trying to pre-grieve the death of his father, but actively planning that death was starting to get to him.

Sokka silently pushed Zuko into sitting on one side of a wide mess of papers as he moved opposite Zuko and sat cross-legged. Sokka seemed more resolute than usual, “Do you know why we are invading the day that we are?”

Zuko was taken aback by that, he wanted to keep Sokka’s trust by not prying into the plans just in case it made him sound like a spy, “Um, I kind of assumed it had to do with the solar eclipse? But I wasn’t sure.”

Sokka looked at the papers spread before him gravely, “so the fire nation knows about the solar eclipse and what it does.”

“I know my father does, he follows the days of black sun pretty closely. But I don’t know their plans.”

Sokka’s gaze met his and he saw a fire in his eyes that came about every time he ran into a problem with the invasion plan, “Okay thanks, that’s all I needed to know.”

Zuko stood, clearly dismissed, as Sokka began mumbling to himself.

__*__*__*__

Zuko had been avoiding as many people as possible, mostly Katara and Sokka’s dad, the chief of the southern water tribe, Hakoda. He was certain Hakoda knew about Zuko ‘docking’ his ship at the southern water tribe and kind of, sort of, harassing the tribespeople. Zuko definitely didn’t feel good about it now, but it seemed like a necessary evil at the time.

That’s why he nearly spiralled into a panic when Hakoda asked him to chat below deck. It sounded like a death sentence to Zuko.

He made his way down to the captain’s quarters--the same ones he used to stay in. He closed the heavy door behind himself and stood tall as he turned around. What better place to use his princely air than when speaking with the chief of a tribe in charge of an invasion. Agni give him strength.

“So, prince Zuko,” Hakoda began, “thanks for helping us take over the ship, and for helping my kids. I’m sure it wasn’t an easy decision to make.”

Zuko was astonished, “Oh, um, please just call me Zuko,” he stumbled through his words uncomfortably, “and, uh, you’re welcome. But. . .” Zuko wasn’t certain how to move forward with this conversation. It was nowhere near what he expected. “May I ask, why aren’t you interrogating me?”

Hakoda gave a hearty chuckle and waved him off, “I trust my children’s judgement. They haven’t made any major mistakes so far, at least. But I wanted to make sure you are ready for the invasion. It’s coming up soon and I want you to be one hundred percent certain you can do it.”

Zuko stood tall, head held high, confident for the first time in days, “yes, I know what is going to happen and I am prepared for it. My family. . .” he trailed off for a moment, losing his confidence by the word, “I know they are my family, and I will always be attached to them because of that, but I know what they have done and what needs to happen to make things right. I plan on helping the Avatar as much as I can.”

Hakoda grinned and put his hand on Zuko’s shoulder, “then I have nothing to worry about, I’m glad you’re with us now.”

Zuko’s throat clenched up and he could feel his eyes prickling as an unidentified emotion took hold of him, “thanks.”

__*__*__*__

Whenever Zuko started to feel overwhelmed he practiced basic firebending moves. He had to stick to the most boring forms that were taught to the fire nation soldiers, so he didn’t attract attention, but it was better than holing up in his room all day.

It was a test of his control to feel his chi buzzing under his skin, ready to burst forth in an uncontrollable and unwieldy fire. Ever since he started learning how to firebend he struggled with it. He had a very difficult time controlling it, whether that meant suppressing his flames or producing them. He just had a difficult time finding that middle ground; add that to the stances and movements and it was a recipe for disaster. That’s why he tried to practice something everyday. When he was in situations he couldn’t produce fire, like being undercover in Ba Sing Se, he would do breathing exercises or practice with his swords to get movements down.

This is why Aang shouldn’t have him for a teacher, he was nowhere near the level of master. Plus, once he breaks Uncle out of prison then he won’t need to teach Aang anyways. It’s a moot point and it bothers him that Toph would even bring it up.

He doesn’t deserve to teach the Avatar. He abandoned his Uncle and sister back in Ba Sing Se. They will both have to face his father’s wrath alone. The most he can do now is face down his father as the Avatar takes his life. It’s the only way to set things right with his family and with his nation. Zuko just wished he felt more confident in the child who was still unconscious.

__*__*__*__

Zuko was futzing around in the fire nation soldier uniform. It was terribly uncomfortable to wear it now that he’s officially betrayed his nation, but you win some you lose some. He only put the entire thing on because Sokka forced him into it, and at least Sokka also put on a uniform, but Zuko didn’t understand why Katara and Toph were exempt from it.

He was making very stilted and awkward conversation with smellerbee while they both tried to avoid bringing up Jet, and since he was their one commonality it was more difficult than it should’ve been. At least the rest of the freedom fighters wouldn’t kill him like Jet tried to, so there's that.

Zuko heard a loud crash and was immediately taken down with a strong blast of wind from a frightened Aang.

“Wait, stop!” he shuffled to his feet and chased after the kid. Of course the sound of Zuko’s voice only made him freak out even more and he ran up the stairs, already unfolding his staff to fly off in fear. Zuko heard banging and crashing from above deck, he cursed and ran up the stairs.

Aang was crumpled on the floor, breathing harshly, most likely in a strong panic. Katara was rubbing his back and calming him.

“What is going on? Why is Zuko here, for a moment I thought he had captured me again,” Aang huffed out through quick breaths. Zuko recoiled a bit at that.

Once Aang had calmed enough to stand again everyone started to take turns giving Aang hugs as Zuko stood to the side, extremely uncomfortable and unsure.

“Don’t worry Aang, we’re safe,” Katara remained by Aang’s side, soothingly rubbing his arm. Zuko went back to his room, allowing the group to welcome Aang back to the land of the living.


	4. Lost

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realized after writing that I had no idea where they are supposed to be in canon so please just go along with them being in the fire nation at all times from now on.

Zuko was sitting near the front of the ship eating some mish-mash of water tribe food made with fire nation rations. He decided it would be easier for Aang to take in the last couple weeks if Zuko wasn’t nearby to confuse him further, thus him hiding from everyone else. As he was chewing through the gummy stew he noticed a sister ship coming towards them. He set his bowl to the side and put the helmet and facepiece on before convening with everyone else at the center of the ship.

“We’ve got a ship coming,” Zuko yelled just as a foghorn blared.

Aang stood tall and determined, “I’ll handle this. The Avatar is back.” He then crumpled in on himself in pain.

Katara rushed to him in concern, “Aang, wait. Remember, they don’t know we’re not fire nation.”

With a strong and even tone Hakoda put his helmet on and announced, “Everyone, just stay calm. Bato and I will take care of this.”

Zuko went to help hide Appa but was dragged to a storage hole by Katara. He crouched next to her and stayed deathly quiet. This is the first time they’ve been stopped so far and that did not bode well for them in Zuko’s opinion.

Aang was nearly shaking in anger, or possibly just pain, “I hate not being able to do anything.”

Sokka climbed in to hide with them, crouching beside Zuko, “Hopefully you won’t need to.”

Zuko couldn’t quite make out what was being said, but he did hear them speaking about admiral Chan. Shit. He should’ve helped them come up with a backstory for their ship just for this situation. He knew admiral Chan had been on leave for a couple months and it was a simple stupid mistake that they could’ve avoided if Zuko wasn’t terrified of integrating into the team.

Toph let out a light gasp, “they know!” She grasped the metal deck and knocked the bridge, along with the soldiers and captain, into the water using what appeared to be metalbending. Agni, how much is she capable of?

Zuko leapt out of the hole and readied his fighting stance. It was ultimately unnecessary because Katara built up an impressive wave and shoved the other ship away from their own. The ship rocked as it surged forward in order to get away.

There wasn’t much Zuko could do in this situation as they had removed the catapult in order to hide Appa. Not that there was much of anything anyone could do as large hunks of fire and fuel were shot at the ship.

Their only defense was Toph’s earthbending and Katara’s waterbending. Without being able to do much to defend themselves, Zuko ran below deck to shovel coal and speed the ship up. He’d been in similar situations before, but never as a foot-soldier, shoveling coal as the ship rocked and booms sounded from above. It was definitely unnerving. And hot, very, very hot. He’d only been down there a few minutes and he was already drenched in sweat, with hair sticking to his forehead in the most uncomfortable way.

After they had made it a reasonable distance from the attacking ship Bato came down to relieve him and the water tribesmen who was following Zuko’s lead in finding the balance of high speeds and not blowing up the engine.

Bato gave him an appraising look, as if shocked Zuko would stoop to physical labor, “great job getting us out of there.”

“Yeah,” for the first time since he set foot on this ship he felt at ease.

__*__*__*__

They docked at the nearest port to fix the gaping hull in the ship and Zuko got a strong sense of deja vu. After cleaning up and changing clothes Zuko felt well enough to accept Katara’s offer of joining them in town for dinner. He nearly declined, but figured he’d risk it for some actual fire nation food. He put on a cloak with a hood deep enough to hide his face and followed after Katara to pick up Aang before they left.

Things were going well enough up until Sokka handed Aang a headband to cover his forehead.

“I’m not going out if I can’t wear my arrow proudly.” Aang turned his back to them.

“Aang c’mon,” Sokka pleaded, “be practical. I mean, Zuko is covering his scar, you gotta make sacrifices sometimes.”

Zuko folded his arms and ignored them.

Aang stayed facing the wall as he spoke, “that’s different.”

“Alright, why don’t you guys go ahead.” Zuko was already halfway out the door as Katara spoke.

Toph gave a glancing punch to his shoulder once she caught up to him, “don’t listen to Sokka, he’s a moron.”

Zuko felt the corner of his mouth lift and his chest felt lighter, “Isn’t he your strategist?”

“Yeah,” Toph replied easily, “but he’s an idiot where it counts.”

“Who is an idiot?” Sokka asked as he finally matched speed with them.

“Nobo-” Zuko started before Toph cut him off.

“You, Sokka, you idiot.”

Sokka scoffed angrily, “gee thanks Toph. You’re really making me sound good to the new guy.”

Toph just gave a sincere-ish smile, “Yeah, let me know if you ever need a character witness.”

“You guys are jerks, but you can’t bring me down tonight because we are going to eat some amazing food.” Sokka rubbed his hands together conspiratorially.

It was oddly both refreshing and terrifying being back on fire nation soil. They were in a moderately poor area, there was enough food to feed everyone, but the people he saw were on the border of being underweight.

“Any recommendations Zuko?” Sokka slapped him on the back, apparently friendly in the face of an impending hot meal.

“Um, I’ve never been here before, but you can’t really go wrong with spicy noodles.” Zuko replied, uncertain about recommending something considering the bland water tribe food he’s had the last few weeks.

Sokka ran ahead of them, looking at the different food stalls excitedly. Katara ran up on his left side, he jumped in surprise. 

“Sorry, sorry, didn’t mean to startle you,” She huffed out.

“It’s no problem,” he said as Sokka came racing back to them.

“Okay I’ve found a good looking place, Zuko come check it out.” Sokka dragged him by the arm up to a run-down stall. Sokka looked at him for approval and Zuko nodded in response.

Zuko figured it would be best if he ordered for them. He had a feeling they’d choose something they’d hate. 

The older shopkeep welcomed them over and Zuko kept his head low as he ordered, “can I get four picken noodles with three half-spice and one full-spice?”

She gave him a bit of a funny look, “half-spice? You must be from the colonies?”

Sokka easily swayed her curious look from Zuko, “yeah, easy to tell, huh?”

She laughed while putting their food together, “quite easy, yes, not many locals prefer fewer spices, but to each their own.”

They paid and thanked the woman, and afterwards Sokka gave him a look while juggling two bowls of noodles while also trying to intimidate Zuko.

“You’re trying to make us look bad! We can handle some spice.” Sokka jabbed a finger into his chest and Zuko had to do some quick maneuvering to save all the food.

“I’m not trying to do anything. It would look worse if you guys are sweating and drooling all over the place,” Zuko replied as he sat down next to Toph and handed her food over.

“Alright fine, let me try it just to show you that I’m not a wuss.” Sokka grabbed Zuko’s bowl from his hands.

Zuko rolled his eyes at Sokka’s stubbornness, “It’s not about being a wuss. I grew up eating this and you haven’t, it’s just tolerance.”

It was too late as Sokka had already taken a fairly massive bite and given the bowl back to Zuko, “It tingles a little but, oh my god!” Sokka started panting heavily and stole Katara’s water skein as he guzzled down all of her water.

“Do either of you want to try?” Zuko looked at Toph and Katara.

“I don’t need to prove my manliness, no thanks,” Toph laughed.

“Yeah I want to be able to actually taste my food,” Katara covered her mouth, obviously trying to not embarrass her brother further.

Zuko started eating and watched Sokka fan his mouth as his eyes watered.

“So, Zuko,” Katara started casually, “what do you like to do in your free time?”

He shrugged, “I guess practice firebending and my broadswords. Um, up until now my only goal was catching the Avatar, but I guess my uncle forced me to play pai sho with him a lot.”

Toph clapped her hands together, “you should duel with Sokka. I’d love to see you wipe the floor with him. Then it’s you and me buddy, I still have to kick your butt and prove to you that I’m the best earthbender ever.”

Zuko was somehow always shocked by Toph’s confidence. He felt like it should be a bravado but he had a good feeling, and some damning evidence that her claim is founded in truth.

“Toph! I would totally beat him,” Sokka looked a bit embarrassed now, as if he was often the butt of the joke with this stuff.

Luckily Katara easily came to his defense, “Sokka can hold his own, it’s about the element of surprise.”

They looked to Zuko to hear his side of it all, he finished chewing his admittedly delicious food and then responded, “I’m not too sure of your capabilities, I’ve only fought you a few times, we should assess.”

That seemed to cheer Sokka up marginally, which wasn’t saying much because he was still poking at his food.

Zuko sighed, “if anything my old master, Piandao, is on our route for the invasion. If we have the time I could put in a good word for you.”

Katara gave him a hesitant look, “no offense, but would he even want your good word? You are kind of a wanted criminal in the fire nation.”

Zuko scowled, “I guess not.”

“Well, that’s a downer, come on let’s head back,” Toph tossed her bowl to Zuko and stood up, not even waiting for them.

“Hey wait, Toph!” Katara scrambled up, “You can’t just leave us you jerk!”

__*__*__*__

Zuko was getting ready to sleep when Katara crashed into his room frantically.

“Aang is gone, we have to go find him.”

Zuko was frozen by his closet, his night clothes in hand, “well that is annoying. Thanks for letting me know? Good luck finding him?”

Katara gave him an incredulous look, “no you’re coming too, start packing. We’ll leave once everyone is ready above deck.” She rushed off, likely to tell the others.

Zuko was shocked enough that he wasn’t sure how to feel. He moved on autopilot to stuff his bag full of clothes.

__*__*__*__

They found Aang on an active volcano. They all hugged him joyously as Zuko stood awkwardly to the side.

“Not to be boring, but I’d really rather not be on an active volcano right now,” Zuko said once the hug was broken.

Aang nodded and grabbed his wrangled staff, shoving it into the lava peeking from the cracks of rock.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” Aang declared, and for the first time Zuko didn’t see a child playing Avatar, but the strong and powerful Avatar.

__*__*__*__

Zuko was the first one to rise, not that he got much sleep anyways. He sat under the warm morning sun, on solid earth, and ran through his breathing exercises.

“Hey,” Aang spoke softly beside him.

Zuko took one last large inhale before exhaling slowly, “morning,” he responded.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to bother you. I’m used to being the first one awake and meditating, it’s strange not having that spot.” Aang sat next to him and crossed his legs, assuming a meditation pose.

Zuko kept his eyes closed and tilted his head toward the sun, “I don’t meditate, I do breathing exercises.”

“Meditation is basically just breathing exercises though,” Aang pointed out.

Zuko let a tiny smile slip past his defenses, “yes, but I am actively keeping spirituality out of it.”

He was sure Aang was looking at him strange, but he didn’t mind too much. He had his reasons for rejecting spirituality just as he was sure Aang had his own for being so spiritual.

He opened his eyes and uncrossed his legs, stretching them out, “I have been bullied into requesting to be your firebending teacher by Toph. At least until we break my uncle out of jail, then he can officially be your master.” Zuko was hesitant to bring it up at all, but it was better to stay in Toph’s good graces.

After a long silence Zuko finally looked at Aang, who was curled in on himself and glaring at his clasped hands.

“You can reject me, you know? I would actually prefer it. Fire is dangerous and wild. Even now I’m still working on my control of it. I would rather have a master teach you than me.” Zuko picked up a pebble and worried it between his fingers.

“You think fire is dangerous? I thought all firebenders trained to make their fire stronger and bigger, not suppress it.” Aang finally made eye contact with him.

“All elements have the ability to be dangerous and need to be taught to control, but fire is more unruly. Fire is alive itself. I guess what I’m saying is teaching control for firebending is more important because it can go out of control so easily.”

Aang hummed, sitting on what Zuko said for a moment before responding, “how are the other elements dangerous?”

Zuko flicked the pebble away from himself and grabbed a new one, “water can be stolen from your very skin, earth can crush you, wind can suffocate you. My uncle taught me to never underestimate another bender. All have the potential for danger and should be taught control, but they rarely are.” He paused, thinking if he should even share some of this information, “I don’t want to upset you, but my uncle told me of an airbending technique that was banned by the air nomads.”

Aang sat up taller now, “what was the technique?”

“It was supposedly a defensive move. Where an airbender removed the air from a person’s lungs, either to kill or simply to slow a person down.” Aang looked close to tears and Zuko felt sick, he shouldn’t have said anything.

Aang took a shaky breath, “As monks we were taught to value every life. I’m even vegetarian. I can’t imagine my people killing anyone.”

Zuko dropped his pebble once again and leaned back on his arms, “everyone is capable of unimaginable things, but not everyone is pushed the same way. I don’t want to see my father die, but it’s what needs to be done. He is a terrible person who has irreversibly hurt thousands of people,” Zuko rubbed his scarred eye softly, “me included.”

Aang seemed to make the connection, “oh, Zuko, I’m so sorry.” He put an arm around Zuko’s shoulders. He wanted to shove the arm off, but was frozen still.

He breathed a shaky inhale and an even shakier outhale then responded, “it’s alright. That wasn’t my point anyway. I just want you to know that people can be pushed too far, and I can’t imagine all of your people sat passively as they were killed. I wouldn’t be able to.”

They sat in silence for a long while; thankfully the silence was not uncomfortable, just contemplative. 

Zuko finally broke the silence with his question, “so, is that a definite no on me being your firebending teacher? I think Toph will harass me until I get a definite no.”

Aang looked him up and down thoughtfully, “I actually think you’re supposed to be my firebending teacher.” He spoke softly.

Zuko was shocked at that, he looked at Aang, confused, “why do you say that?”

Aang just smiled, much more confident now than earlier in the morning, “I think you and I are more similar than you think. And I think you will make a great teacher, sifu-hotman.”

“Don’t call me that.” He growled out. Aang just bumped his shoulder and laughed it off. Zuko started to feel a bit better about things again.


	5. It Almost Feels Like Home Again

Zuko suggested beginning firebending practice as soon as possible. Plus, there wasn’t much else they could do while hiding in the fire nation.

It was obvious that Aang was nervous. He barely followed Zuko’s instructions for the warm up and fidgeted through the breathing exercises.

Zuko rubbed a hand over his face and sighed, “I know you’re nervous, but remember, firebending in and of itself is not something to fear.”

“Okay, not something to fear,” Aang still seemed reluctant.

Zuko folded his arms and gave him a stern look, “but if you don’t respect it, it’ll chew you up and spit you out like an angry komodo rhino.”

Aang reared back at Zuko’s intensity, but a healthy sense of fear is what Zuko was taught by his tutors. And, he doesn’t want Aang to get too complacent.

“Alright, show me what you can do then,” Zuko stepped back to give a wide berth.

Aang looked terrified, okay maybe Zuko should’ve gone easier on him, but Aang still cupped his hands together. Aang closed his eyes and concentrated hard, sweat quickly forming on his brow--Zuko did admire the boy’s dedication and his open-mindedness. Aang was becoming visibly frustrated at his inability to produce a flame, and much like Zuko’s first flame, fire burst forth from Aang’s cupped hands. Aang’s eyes startled open as the flame grew larger, nearly the size of his head now, and it was pulsing along to Aang's frantic heartbeat.

Zuko walked placidly towards Aang, “it’s alright Aang, just calm down,” he spoke soothingly. Once he reached Aang he held his palms over the flames in Aang’s hands and suppressed the flames until they fizzled out. 

Aang recoiled from Zuko, taking a few steps back, “see Zuko! I can’t firebend, I can’t control it.”

Zuko held his hands in front of himself, attempting to calm Aang, “okay you don’t have to firebend then.”

Aang ceased his fearful panting and gave Zuko a shocked look, “I don’t?”

Zuko shook his head, “no, I’m not pushing you to firebend uncontrollably. That will just cause unnecessary harm to innocent people. But we are still going to train.”

Aang seemed to have reached his original state of calm, which wasn’t very calm but better than a total freak out, and moved closer once again to Zuko.

Zuko pushed on, “we will work on blocking during actual training, but in the interim you will work on your control.”

__*__*__*__

“What are you two doing?” Sokka asked frantically, “you are going to blow our cover!” Sokka waved his arms dramatically.

“Sokka we are practicing firebending in the fire nation,” Aang smiled for the first time since they began training, “we really couldn’t be more inconspicuous.”

Sokka spluttered at that, “okay that’s a fair point,” Sokka sat on a nearby rock and crossed his arms.

“Alright let’s take a break,” Zuko said.

Aang looked both relieved and exhausted.

“Do fifty hot squats,” Zuko sat by Sokka.

Aang now looked pissed, “what? You just said let’s take a break.”

Zuko just folded his arms sternly, “yeah, a break from the blocking forms. Cycling through different things will help you gain muscle memory faster.”

Sokka chuckled beside him as Aang just glowered and got into a wide stance. It felt odd to have someone not laughing at his tactics for once; it made him feel a strange warmth that made him smile despite trying to keep a straight face.

__*__*__*__

Later that day they ‘borrowed’ some clothes so they could hide in plain site. Then they went into town for accessories and snacks. Aang seemed glad for his training break. He excitedly told them of his old fire nation friend and began listing some slang for everyone to use.

“My favorite one is hotman,” Aang told them, “it’s very polite, so call everyone that.”

Katara leaned over and whispered to him, “is Aang right? Should we really call people hotman?”

Zuko tilted his hooded head, “I’m not sure, I didn’t visit the locals very often, and the people at the palace didn’t really use slang.”

Katara nodded at that, “carry on then, Hotman.”

Overall, it was a fun day in town, at least until Aang got lost. Everyone tried to hide their concern, but it was palpable in the air. They did their daily chores and Zuko helped Katara start dinner. The darker it got the more the air filled with tension and worry. Katara in particular has been going through cycles of worry and anger. Zuko figured it would be best if he hid in the corner until something happened, or else he risked getting yelled at by an irritated Katara.

Zuko was on the verge of suggesting they go looking for him when Aang stumbled into the cave, covered in dirt and talking animatedly about playing hide and explode. Aang told them all about his day at school and how he wants to stay here.

“Aang, I’m trying to be mature and not immediately shoot down your idea. But it sounds really terrible.” Sokka said, sounding severely unimpressed.

“Yeah, we got our outfits. What do we need to go to school for?” Toph added.

“Every minute I’m in that classroom I’m learning new things about the fire nation. I already have a picture of firelord Ozai, and here’s one that I made out of noodles.” Aang pulled out two papers, one with the daunting and severe look of the firelord's formal portrait and one barely held together heap of noodles that had similarities to the firelord’s features, but only slightly.

Zuko fled the cave before he got sucked into a conversation about his father.

__*__*__*__

Of course Aang just got into more trouble. How has he survived so far, all he does is get in trouble or do something dumb practically every day. Now they have to get him out of trouble with the school headmaster, unbelievable.

“I don’t think you’d be believable parents,” Zuko said over the others’ bickering.

Sokka scoffed, “you think we’re terrible actors? I’ll have you know we’ve tricked a bunch of people with our amazing acting.”

Zuko shook his head, “no, I meant that both you and Katara have very different skin tones than Aang, and you look way too much like siblings. It would be better if you went with Toph.”

“Are you kidding? Toph would tear the place to the ground after setting one foot in there,” Katara butt in, “plus there’s no way she could pass for being any older than she is.”

“Hmm, this is a conundrum,” Sokka rubbed his chin in thought.

Toph was lounging back, at first letting them figure it out, but was obviously bored of it now, “why don’t Sokka and Zuko go, and say they adopted Aang or something.”

Sokka snapped his fingers together, “why didn’t I think of that? Great idea Toph,” Sokka scrambled to pick out disguises for them.

“What about my face though?” Zuko asked Sokka, who was rooting furiously through his bag and tossing clothes everywhere.

“If anyone asks we can just say you got in a training accident or got discharged as an injured soldier. You don’t look anything like your wanted poster so we’ll be okay.”

Zuko folded his arms and leaned over to Katara, “I changed my mind, you should go with him.”

Katara laughed and gave him a side-eye, “I would, but you’re right, I’d rather we have a strong story to fall back on.

Zuko felt glum as Sokka held different garments up to him like a doll.

__*__*__*__

“Thank you for coming, mister and mister. . .” the headmaster trailed off questioningly.

“Fire,” Sokka took the lead, “Wang Fire, and this is my husband, Wong Fire.”

Damnit, why did he even let Sokka speak. He forced a smile and replied, “Wong Fire, nice to meet you.” He resisted scratching his fake beard or covering his face, instead sitting taller and exuding more authority.

The headmaster didn’t seem impressed, “your son has been enrolled here for two days and he’s already causing problems. He’s argued with his history teacher, disrupted music class, and roughed up my star pupil.”

Zuko folded his arms and made his tone grim, “That doesn’t sound like our Kuzon. He would never disrespect his fathers like that.”

The headmaster faced Zuko head on, “maybe you need to have a stricter hand in his punishments then. Either way, you’re forewarned, if he acts up one more time I’ll have to send him to reform school, by which I mean the coal mines. Are we clear?”

He nodded reluctantly, he felt like a scolded child standing before their father.

“Don’t you worry mister headmaster, I’ll straighten this boy out something fierce,” Sokka intervened.

Sokka seemed to fit better into the domineering father role as he yelled at Aang. He leaned into Aang’s space and seethed as he spat, “young man, as soon as we get home, you’re gonna get the punishment of a lifetime.

“That’s what I like to hear,” the headmaster leaned back in his chair, apparently satisfied.

Zuko clenched his fist and felt sick as he rushed out of the office; Aang hung his head in shame while Sokka stomped dramatically behind them.

__*__*__*__

Sokka refused to get out of character all day. He followed Aang around with that stupid fake beard and told him off for not doing chores or to go to his room for getting in trouble at school. Occasionally he would saunter over to Zuko and say something along the lines of ‘oh darling where did we go wrong with our dear Kuzon. He is such a trouble maker now.’ Of course Zuko then had to tell Sokka off for saying dumb stuff and then go find a different corner of the cave to sulk in.

Katara sat next to him, waiting for their stew to finish cooking in the meanwhile. “Sokka has really warmed up to you, I’m glad. He gets pigheaded sometimes and can’t look past the insignificant stuff.” Katara tilted her head, “well, I guess tracking down Aang wasn’t insignificant, but you’ve shown that you’re a different person now. So at least Sokka is willing to work on it.”

Zuko sat there for a moment, uncomfortable with her honesty. He cleared his throat before responding, “could you show me how to sew? These clothes are already secondhand and I accidentally ripped a hole in my shirt.”

Katara took the shift in conversation with ease, “yeah, it’s easier than you’d think, let me grab my supplies.”

He removed his tunic and Katara showed him a simple stitch, then told him to call her over to tie it off once he finished. It really wasn’t as hard as he thought it would be; although the stitches varied in length and were jagged along the seam.

“Sokka, are you okay?” Toph asked, a hint of teasing in her voice.

He looked up to find Sokka red-faced and stomping off out of the cave, finally removing the beard.

“Hey Katara, I’ve finished,” Zuko said, glad Sokka finally stopped with the ridiculous charade.

__*__*__*__

Zuko had no idea how Aang talked them into hosting a dance party. It was all a whirlwind of conversation until Aang directed him to light way too many candles for such a small cave. Aang set the candles down as Zuko followed behind and lit them.

“Did you know that all the students have to pledge their allegiance to the fire nation and the firelord every day?” Aang asked him.

Zuko looked at Aang oddly, “is it any different from honoring the gods?”

Aang returned the odd look, “yes, because it’s not honoring the gods, it's being forced into standing behind the fire nation and the firelord.”

Zuko frowned, that does make sense, but it’s just something that’s always been done. He never really thought it was a weird thing to do until now.

Aang shook his head and sighed, “I wasn’t even allowed to dance.”

Zuko did huff a laugh at that, “so I heard. Why were you dancing in the first place?”

Aang seemed more upbeat now, “because we were playing music, you can’t play music and not dance.”

“I don’t dance to music all the time. It’s actually pretty easy,” Zuko grinned.

Aang made a dramatic gasp, “do you not know how to dance?” He looked at Zuko sadly.

“Of course I know how to dance, I was traditionally trained,” Zuko waved his finger over the candles Aang set out, igniting them.

Aang glanced at him slyly; Zuko doesn’t want to know what about.

Eventually their hard work came together and the cave looked much nicer than the dark and damp cave they slept in last night. The cave was spacious enough to fit a class of young students, but there wasn’t much point when they all just stood there uncomfortably. Zuko didn’t understand why they even showed up if they knew they didn’t want to dance. It’s not like it’s illegal, at least he’s pretty sure it’s not illegal, but he wouldn’t know, he didn’t get to the dancing laws when he was studying to be firelord. Guess that doesn’t matter now.

Aang gave a grand speech that Zuko zoned out. He just wanted to sleep or practice forms, anything more useful than dancing with kids.

Aang started doing some eccentric dance moves that Zuko vaguely recognized. Suddenly, Aang popped up before Zuko, his hand offered in invitation. Zuko rolled his eyes, he knew he shouldn’t have said anything about his dancing, but he still delicately took the hand.

They circled each other and moved their arms gracefully. They fumbled a bit, both trying to lead in certain parts, but overall they moved well together. Not necessarily in sync, but Zuko’s sharper movements accented Aang’s willowy ones well enough. He felt lighter than he has in days. He always had a secret soft spot for dancing, it was the more polite side to fighting stances and his mother always loved sitting in on his dance lessons. Azula did too, but that was more so she could relentlessly tease him. 

They moved through some more complicated steps, ones Zuko only tried a couple times due to the dances being hundreds of years old. But the gods were in his favor tonight because he didn’t trip or fall once. The song slowed and turned to a different melody and Zuko bowed at Aang, clearly signalling the end of their dance. Aang was beaming at him as he bowed back.

The world rushed back in and he heard clapping and awes. His cheeks reddened in embarrassment and he walked back to the others, uncomfortable with an audience after years of his solitary lifestyle. Toph was sat at a table, grinning widely while Sokka and Katara looked displeased--Toph tended to have that effect on people.

Sokka marched up to Zuko and shoved his hand at him, “will you dance with me?” He grumbled.

Zuko was unsure, Sokka seemed upset at something, but he couldn’t really say no. The gods actually seemed to hate him because he was once again trapped by social conventions.

“Sure,” he said and took Sokka’s hand.

Katara followed Aang out to the dance floor and Sokka took him to a more discrete corner. He was certain Sokka was about to give him a stern talking to, but Sokka actually did want to dance. Well, if anyone could call that dancing. Sokka moved with sharp, jagged movements that were more akin to dueling stances than dancing. Zuko wasn’t very certain what to do with it, so he just made up some stuff that was similar to firebending and it seemed to work well enough. At least he didn’t get poked in the eye in the process so he calls it a win.

When one elbow came way too close to his head for comfort he decided to inquire about Sokka’s weird behavior, “are you mad at me or something?”

Sokka stopped and relaxed his pose, “no, what makes you say that?”

“Um, nothing, just wanted to check,” Zuko looked away and noticed the kids were circled around Aang and Katara. They danced so well together, none of the moves were in any way traditional or close to replicable, but they came together into a beautiful dance.

“They look really good together,” Zuko turned to Sokka.

Sokka seemed to relax at that, turning to face Zuko, “yeah, they’re practically soulmates.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for sticking around. This chapter was oddly difficult to write, mostly because it’s a filler episode and I wasn’t sure how exactly I wanted to go about it. Also, in my mind's eye Sokka dances like Mac from it's always sunny. I couldn’t imagine him dancing any other way.


	6. Patron Saints and Sinners

Soon after their dance party Sokka was able to convince Aang that they needed to leave before they got into any trouble. Aang was hesitant but allowed them to move on, he knew they had bigger fish to fry, but it was a noble effort to give the fire nation children some freedom for a night. Zuko admired Aang’s ability to be so compassionate. He’s also frustrated at how easy they made it to be found. Zuko never had any problems actually finding Aang when he was still hunting him, because they made zero effort to cover their tracks. If only Aang was able to listen to reason sometimes, it would really reduce the stress in Zuko’s life at the moment.

Zuko felt like he was waiting for the other shoe to drop. He can’t say he’s ever really had friends. It’s embarrassing for him to admit, even to himself. The only people he’s ever trusted were his mom and his uncle. Needless to say he doesn’t have a great track record with trust and friends so he’s still sort of wary of his new group.

At least they kept it interesting.

“Momo!” Aang shouted as he popped up from the dirty brown water. He’d been doing it for at least the last half hour; Zuko had tried wrangling him into working on his control exercises, but Aang was still reluctant to actually produce fire and always wormed his way out of Zuko’s instructions.

Zuko was bored out of his mind now, he’s certain Toph has told him all of her stories and is now just making stuff up, Katara was currently focused on directing Appa, Sokka was failing at fishing and making bad jokes, and Aang was frolicking around in mud.

Zuko cupped his hands over his mouth and shouted, “Aang get back over here and do your breathing exercises.”

Aang glided back onto Appa and shook mud onto all of them. Zuko glowered and wiped his face off, “Aang, sit down already.”

Aang gave him a sheepish smile and sat cross-legged across from him. “Why do I need to do so much breathing,” Aang complained, but still closed his eyes.

“Fire comes from the breath, if you control your breath you control your fire,” Zuko glared, now in serious teacher mode.

Sokka flicked his fishing rod back to reset his line and nearly took Zuko’s skin off in the process. He kicked Sokka gently in the leg, “watch it over there.”

Sokka just made a face at him, “I’m trying to catch dinner.”

“Unless you plan on eating my skin then you aren’t doing a good job,” Zuko grumbled.

“Are you kidding? My fishing skills are off the hook,” Sokka laughed at his own joke.

“Well I wish your skills were on the hook,” Toph said casually, sitting reclined next to Zuko.

Zuko laughed at that, as did Aang and Katara, and Sokka looked betrayed.

“So, fire comes from the breath?” Toph asked, “like dragons?”

“Yeah,” Zuko smiled at her, “before my father ordered the extinction of the dragons our people learned a lot from them.” Zuko’s smile turned grim at that reminder.

Toph nudged him with her elbow, “so can you breathe fire yourself?”

Zuko inhaled deeply and allowed his internal warmth to rise; he exhaled that heat as flames that licked at his skin, but didn’t burn him. “Yes.”

“Well it sounded cool enough,” Toph said wryly.

He blushed at his forgetfulness and turned to look at Sokka instead, who was red-faced as well. Zuko assumed Sokka was embarrassed by Zuko being a show-off for a blind girl. But in his defence he wanted to seem cool to Toph, who always has an interesting story of her amazing feats.

“We should go into town to find some food. I don’t think we’ll have any luck finding fish in this river.” Katara said, looking excited to have a break from the monotony.

Sokka unrolled his lengthy schedule, “it’s doable, but I’m going to have to rearrange a lot of stuff,” he squinted at the in-depth color coded hours.

Although the others hate Sokka’s intense schedule, Zuko enjoyed it a lot. It was soothing to have a routine, and to know that at least one person in the group was level-headed enough to keep everyone on track. Sokka’s organization and ability to compartmentalize were Zuko’s favorite traits of his. Before he actually spoke to Sokka he thought that the water tribe boy was just a tag along ameteur warrior. Now he knew the importance of Sokka’s presence, and it always warmed his chest to see Sokka acting so maturely. Of course that image of Sokka was often ruined by his ridiculous antics. In those cases he could rely on Katara to be the rational one.

They ran into a small water town in the middle of the polluted lake. They hid Appa and Momo and took a rickety boat into the town with an odd man named Dock. The man guided them to what appeared to be the only food stall in the whole, well village really, which was also run by Dock--or was it Shoe?

It was disheartening to see his people suffer like this. Zuko has been to places where food was scarce, but never like this. Nearly everyone was on the brink of starvation and the sick lined the docks. It made his chest ache to see his people suffering like this. It also made him unbelievably angry to see how his father’s reign has left the people so desolate.

He knew that the war had burdened some areas of the fire nation more than others, but he never thought about towns like this, never had to think of towns like this. Ones that weren’t a battlefront, but were just as damaged in different ways. 

He adjusted his hood, pulling it further down so absolutely nobody could recognize him. It wasn’t likely but he doesn’t think they’ll take kindly to ex-royalty traipsing through their dilapidated village.

“We need to stay and help these people,” Katara whispered, looking pitifully at a small child running off with a fish.

“We already took one day off the schedule, Katara, we can’t miss another day,” Sokka replied sternly. “We won’t be helping these people if Ozai stays firelord.”

Katara glared at Sokka and pushed past him, stomping off in visible anger, steam nearly quite literally coming from her ears.

Sokka sighed, “come on guys, let’s go eat.”

__*__*__*__

Zuko was watching Aang, Katara, and Toph cleaning some river water to drink. Considering he can’t do much more to help than light the fire to boil the water he decided to lean on Appa and study their bending movements. It oddly made him feel closer to his uncle. He saw some of his uncle’s teachings in their movements, but mostly he saw potential ideas, barely formed thoughts of movements that he could utilize.

It was a nice night, eating by the fire and chatting (even if most of the chatter was Sokka complaining about the schedule). The conversion washed over him soothingly, and every once in a while Toph or Katara would direct a question his way. It was nice not feeling pressured to perform for them in any way. They didn’t push him to talk, but it felt natural when they did include him in conversation. It was weird feeling so content, like he was waiting for something to go wrong, but nothing had so far. But that probably also meant Azula was planning something, which made his stomach queasy with unease.

He helped clean up and set up camp, like he usually did. The first time he helped he had to endure Sokka’s endless jabs about being a prince. He eventually snapped and told Sokka he’d been doing customer service at a tea shop for months now to hide from his sister who tried to take him prisoner and that shut Sokka up pretty quick. Of course the jokes then turned into ‘oh how ironic that you’d be taken prisoner by the fire nation’. Which Zuko admittedly did find funny because he was a sucker for dramatic irony, but it wasn’t quite as fun when it’s your own life.

They settled into their makeshift beds, but Zuko has never been good at falling asleep, too much inner turmoil is what Uncle always said. He supposes that’s true, he often thinks about his place in the universe. He figures the fates have a plan for him, but he has always had a hard time telling if he was following that plan.

He stared at the stars as snores began sounding around him. He felt mentally exhausted, but his body kept twitching with want to do something. He usually practiced multiple fighting forms a day, but with how much they’ve been travelling he hasn’t had the chance.

He watched the stars slowly move across the sky, feeling more and more drowsy. He was about to get up and burn off the energy when he saw Katara rising from her own makeshift bed and tiptoe around the small overhang they were sleeping under. It wasn’t until hours later when he finally fell asleep, but Katara hadn’t returned yet.

__*__*__*__

His troubled sleep was interrupted by the early morning sun. The ground was cold and the meager patches of grass had dew on them. He didn’t feel rested, but he didn’t have a headache.

He sat up and saw Katara standing by Appa. She scrambled to hide something behind her back as he stood and stretched. He nodded in greeting and passed by her. She returned the nod stiffly and smiled meekly.

He found a clearing that was relatively close to camp but far from the trails. He warmed up by going through various stretches and breathing exercises. He felt more centered than perhaps any other time in his life. It felt like he was doing something right finally.

The simple waterbending and earthbending forms were fuzzy in his memory, but it was enough to start with. He formed a sizable amount of flames and began to bend them the way Katara and Aang moved the water. It was pretty similar to the more artsy part of firebending, like the benders who made dragons at sun festivals.

He then moved on to Toph’s more stable stance and tried to move the fire like she did with Earth. That was oddly trickier than the waterbending moves, but still nothing too difficult. He understood why uncle was able to pick up techniques so easily from other nations; it wasn’t difficult to actually do, but it took more mental effort to translate it to another element.

After experimenting with a few other forms he’s seen from the other benders he worked quickly through his usual firebending forms. It was refreshing to revisit his old routine, especially because sitting on a slow moving bison for days at a time made Zuko go a little brain dead.

“Appa, what’s wrong?” he could hear Aang panicking from their campsite.

When he reached the camp he saw Appa lying on his side with a purple tongue hanging out of his mouth.

“What’s going on?” He asked, still panting and sweaty from his morning routine.

“Appa is sick,” Aang himself appeared sick with worry, “can you heal him Katara?”

Katara fumbled for a response, “um, I think he needs medicine. It looks like some kind of disease.”

Aang rushed them all down to the docks--Zuko barely even had time to grab his cloak before Aang started tugging his arm. It was a quick trek into town, but it appeared fruitless as any medicine the town did receive immediately went to their sickest residents.

Although Shoe did explain that the Painted Lady spirit visited them last night and would hopefully come the next night to heal the sick. It was interesting how quick the town was thanking a spirit when the food was clearly stolen from the factory up the river. The logos on the containers are obviously fire nation army rations. If the Painted Lady did exist he has a hard time believing she would starve the factory workers to feed the village, but Zuko had a feeling Katara’s disappearance last night had more to do with that than a wily spirit.

He glanced at Katara; she was looking around the village with contentedness, a smidge of pride, and a dash of smugness. Yeah, she was not hiding it too well.

They bought some more food and went back to the campsite. Sokka worried over the schedule for the rest of the day, which concerned Zuko greatly. If they really did miss the eclipse then their chances of taking down the firelord will be a lot smaller.

With that in mind, Zuko forced Aang into various exercises throughout the day. Aang was mostly focused, but tended to get bored eventually, and Zuko had to remind himself that despite being the Avatar, Aang is just a kid. So, he allowed breaks, but was harsh about restarting practice, something Toph and Katara tended to forget when working with Aang.

He lit a twig on fire and handed it over to Aang, “put this fire out with just firebending.”

Aang held the stick far from his own body, keeping his eyes glued on it while speaking to Zuko, “how do I do that?”

“Feel the fire within yourself, within your chi. When you create fire you can feel it building up. Do the opposite. Do whatever you do when you are emotionally distraught and need to calm down. Instead of fanning the flames, smother them.” Zuko closed his eyes and let Aang work.

Aang concentrated until the fire was low enough on the twig to singe his fingers. The fire grew hotter, brighter, and bigger in Aang’s frustration and shock of anger before the flames fizzled out quickly.

Zuko glanced at Aang, “that was terrible.”

“Gee thanks Zuko, you give me so much confidence,” Aang muttered, still annoyed.

Zuko sighed, Aang had been struggling through each and every exercise Zuko gave him. Was he really just a terrible teacher? What would uncle say in this situation? Probably something soothing and vague.

“How do you normally self-soothe?” Zuko asked bluntly, figuring his way of getting straight to the heart of it works too.

Aang folded his hands in thought, “I don’t think I do. I always have Appa by my side, and he’s great at calming me down. Katara is really good at making me feel better,” Aang blushed, “so are Toph and Sokka, but they are kind of bad at the overall execution.”

Zuko hummed at that, “then think of Appa and Katara or something, I don’t know.”

Aang laughed this time, patting Zuko’s shoulder, “I always forget that you aren’t an adult. Sorry if I get frustrated, control of fire isn’t something I’m good at, which scares me.”

“It’s okay, you don’t have as much time to learn as everyone else. I just wish my uncle was here to help us both.”

Aang stood, the sun was going down and dinner was almost ready, “you’re a great teacher sifu-hotman.” Aang gave him a fire nation bow and bolted to the stew pot.

“Quit calling me that,” Zuko yelled at his fleeing back.

__*__*__*__

Zuko spent another sleepless night under the stars, but this time he followed after Katara when she snuck out of camp. He caught her putting some kind of berry juice paste on her face like a madwoman.

“What are you doing?” Zuko asked.

Katara jumped in shock and whipped around, smearing some red paste along her cheek in the process.

“Nothing,” she said and then stared at him fearfully.

Zuko folded his arms, “nothing, huh?”

Katara deflated and turned back to the mirror, fixing the smudge. “I’m going to heal those sick people and you can’t stop me.”

Zuko held his hands in front of himself in defense, “I wasn’t going to. I’m glad you are healing them, they need it. But you can’t hold us back here and have us miss the eclipse.”

Katara looked like she was going to interrupt and argue so Zuko quickly cut her off, “I don’t like seeing my people go through pain like this either.”

She softened at that, clearly understanding what he meant, “that’s why I want to help.”

“If you heal them tonight and we leave tomorrow they will just get sick and starve again. You’re treating the symptom when we should be fixing the source. We have to be there for the invasion.”

Katara thought on that for a moment, “I can’t just leave these people though, Zuko. I will always help those who need my help.”

He rubbed a hand over his face, already exhausted from his lack of sleep, but this conversation was making his head hurt. “How would it be fair to all the other people suffering to miss the invasion just to temporarily help one town.”

“But we don’t know that this town will be helped after the Firelord Ozai is removed,” Katara looked at her hands dismally.

“Once the war is over the factory won’t be necessary and they’ll stop production,” Zuko told her adamantly.

Katara looked at him brightly, clearly forming an idea, “I should just take out the factory right now then.” She turned and ran off, leaving Zuko behind in the dust.

“Wah, Katara,” Zuko whisper shouted at her. He nabbed his cloak and ran after her.

“Hey Zuko, what are you and Katara up to?” Aang suddenly asked him suspiciously. He must have heard them talking and followed.

Zuko turned his sprint into a run to keep up with Katara, “I guess we’re blowing up the factory.”

Aang looked surprised, but smiled brightly at that, “cool. We better catch up to Katara then.”

__*__*__*__

The three of them came back to camp absolutely exhausted. Katara and Aang were ecstatic about blowing up the factory and were chattering about it the whole way back from their pitstop to heal the sick in the village while Zuko kept watch.

“And just where have you three been?” Sokka looked disappointed with his folded arms.

“We were just hunting,” Zuko lied.

“Aang is a vegetarian,” Toph replied, unimpressed, “and you don’t have anything with you.”

“Well we were unsuccessful,” he folded his arms and grumbled.

“You don’t even have any hunting supplies,” Toph said, throwing her hands up in exasperation.

Zuko blushed and Katara rolled her eyes at him.

“We destroyed the factory,” Katara stated bluntly.

Sokka exploded at that, “destroyed the factory? Aang, Zuko, how could you two encourage her. How long have you two known about this. And I know you’ve been feeding Appa purple berries to make him look sick, Katara.”

At that Katara turned from righteous to ashamed.

“Did you even think of the residents? The factory workers will think they did it and come after them.” Sokka finished his tirade, disappointment written all over his expression.

Shit, that didn’t even occur to him. He turned and booked it back to the docks, he could hear Sokka shouting something at him, but he was too focused on getting to the village before the factory boss reached them. He borrowed one of dock’s boats and hastily made his way into town.

It was a good thing he left immediately, because it looked like the factory guards were already on their way over. The villagers were convening at the edge of the dock. Zuko snuck to the back of the crowd. He adjusted the hood of his cloak and ignored the stares of the people beside him.

A brawny man with a large scar that ran diagonally across his face stood in front of them. He waved a disgusted look at the people before addressing them, “I thought we could live as neighbors in peace, but I guess I was wrong. You steal our food, our medicine, and then you destroy our factory.”

“We didn’t do any of that,” Dock popped up to say from the crowd of sitting villagers. He hid behind some people and switched his hat.

“Yeah, the Painted Lady brought us food. She’s the one that healed our sick, not your medicine.” Shoe said, pointing at the man.

The man held up a small figurine of the Painted Lady spirit, “oh right, the mysterious Painted Lady did it, and I suppose she drew the army emblem on your containers too.” The man hucked the figuring at a large container of rice, shattering it and ruining the rice along with the pot.

Zuko stood and rushed through the crowd. He just barely redirected the man’s arm to fire into the lake rather than at a nearby home.

“What do you think you’re doing?” the man turned to Zuko and yelled, his face turning red in anger.

Zuko couldn’t allow his people to live like this, he can’t go through his father’s death just to have Azula treat these people just as poorly. He can’t just sit back and watch his people suffer anymore, he knows his destiny. His destiny has always been to be the firelord, and he will be the firelord, he feels it in his blood.

Zuko stood from his fighting stance and removed his hood, “I am Prince Zuko, heir to the Fire Nation throne, and I am standing up for my people.”

He could hear the people behind him gasping and muttering to each other. 

The scarred man before him looked genuinely shocked before throwing a flame his way as he shouted, “I’ll just turn you in to the Firelord himself, traitor!”

Zuko blocked the attack and swiped at the man’s legs who tipped over easily. Zuko made a rolling dive to the side to avoid a fireball to the head. The other soldiers circled him, fists raised in a standard form. He leaned on his back and swung his legs around, forcing all the soldiers back with a ring of fire. He set his heads behind his head and shot up into a standing position.

After a quick analysis he swung his arm over his head, flames following and forming into a large blast, and took out their strongest firebender. He dodged their attacks while keeping their aim near the water. What good would his fighting do if they just set the town on fire.

He shoved a soldier into the lake, but the others were closing in on him again. He didn’t think he could take much more of this. They were pushing him back to the edge of the dock. His heel was hanging over the edge of the wood planks and the scarred man was standing in front of him, fists raised.

“You’re cornered, just give in already,” the man said, moving to grab Zuko’s wrists.

Zuko looked around at the soldiers behind the leader and he knew they would rather take Zuko in than get revenge on the townspeople. He offered his wrists to the scarred man and hung his head in defeat.

“What is that,” a soldier behind the leader said.

“Something strange is going on,” the scarred man before him quickly grabbed Zuko’s wrists and pulled him to his body, placing his forearm over Zuko’s throat.

“It’s the Painted Lady,” a young boy said excitedly, “she’s coming.”

He heard Appa’s growling roar and saw Katara’s silhouette moving through the dense fog.

“There is no Painted Lady,” the man constraining him yelled.

The town became shrouded in fog and Katara dressed as the Painted Lady landed on the dock before them. Her head was lowered to hide her face with her wide brimmed hat.

“Do something,” the leader shouted, looking at two of the soldiers expectantly.

The two soldiers drew their swords and cautiously approached Katara. A gust of wind, most likely Aang, blew up from under the cracks in the wood panels. The soldiers ran away in fear and the leader tightened his hold on Zuko.

“Stand your ground,” he told the two other soldiers evenly.

Katara held a large wall of water behind her threateningly and the rest of the soldiers ran off in their boats.

The leader idiotically shoved Zuko to the side and took an offensive stance. The man threw a wave of fire at her and she easily dodged it, and then knocked the man into the lake.

“Leave this village and never come back,” Katara told the man threateningly.

Katara watched the man swim to a fleeing boat then faced the crowd. A smile just barely showing under her hat.

The villagers rushed her and began thanking the ‘Painted Lady’ profusely until Dock seemed to recognize her. 

“She’s a waterbender!” Someone in the crowd shouted, turning the crowd of adoring fans into a mob.

Katara removed her hat and addressed them, “I shouldn’t have pretended to be someone I’m not, but I felt like I had to do something. You can’t wait around for someone to help you. You need to become self-sufficient once again.”

The energy of the mob died down as the people became subdued in the face of their reality.

“What are we supposed to do?” Dock asked.

Toph snuck up beside Zuko in the crowd, making him jump, and said in a distorted voice, “maybe we should clean the river.”

The crowd easily agreed at a supposed insider’s opinion. With the crowd content Zuko figured he should sneak back to the group before someone else tried to sell him down the river. He was sneaking around the edge when someone grabbed him by the cloak. A young mother with dark bags under her eyes and sunken stomach had stopped him.

“We wanted to thank you, Prince Zuko,” the woman said, “our village will be honored to have you as Firelord.” The woman had a glint in her eye and he knew that she was referencing a coup.

Zuko wasn’t sure how to respond. He looked past her to the other villagers and they were looking at him in kind. He took a shaky breath and bowed at them, “thank you for your support.”

He turned and made his way to the group. Toph punched his arm and told him, “good job, sparky.” While Sokka pulled him into a side hug and Katara and Aang just smiled at him.

“Well, Sokka, do we have one more day to help this town clean the river?” Katara asked meekly.

Sokka laughed, “yeah, I’ll make the schedule work, good job Katara.”

Toph grabbed his arm for balance and directions and on his other side Sokka kept his arm around Zuko’s shoulders as they walked to help the village get started on cleanup.

Zuko finally felt ready enough to face his father; he knows he has their support if he needs it.


	7. A Two for One Deal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t know why but these chapters keep getting longer. Also, how am I only on episode 4 of book 3? I feel like I should be finishing soon, but I’m not even halfway done.

By now he’s gotten used to the slow flying, and Toph has been making sure to get him used to touch. She almost always hung onto Zuko when they were in the air because it is unreasonably cold up there and he has no idea how Toph handled it before they became cuddle buddies. Even with his firebending or even on extremely hot days he gets goosebumps. There is absolutely no way humans are supposed to be that high up in the air and not freeze to death. He often envies Aang, Katara, and Sokka who appear accustomed to cold air. He and Toph are not so fortunate.

Luckily tonight’s air didn’t sting his skin with cold, but instead was a nice cooling balm from the late day heat. They stayed up later than usual to watch the meteor shower. It would’ve been a beautiful and peaceful time if Toph didn’t make blind jokes every few minutes. They were actually pretty funny, but kind of took away the spirituality of the moment.

“That one looks so close,” Katara pointed at a fast and large light streaking across the sky.

“That’s because it is close,” Aang shot up frantically.

The meteorite hit the Earth not far from their improvised campsite and the rocks beneath him shook with the intense impact. They rushed after it and reached a cliff that oversaw the canyon.

“The fire is going to destroy that town,” Katara pointed to a large fire nation town that was peacefully ignorant of the imminent threat.

They all seemed to agree silently and rode Appa to the impact site. The meteorite was surrounded by a raging fire, too large, wild, and unruly for Zuko to even attempt to control.

Katara took Appa to gather water from the nearby river while Toph smothered the flames with slabs of Earth and Aang moved swiftly to help them both. Momo was anxiously flying to and from Zuko’s shoulder to Sokka’s shoulder while they stood out of the way.

“What should we do?” Sokka looked longingly at the other three as they fought the dwindling fire.

“They can handle this Sokka, they’ll be fine,” Zuko told him.

“I know that,” Sokka sounded disheartened, “I just want to be useful. I don’t want to be the dead weight.”

Zuko kept his eyes on the fire, he knew the feeling well. He often had to try three times as hard to keep up with Azula and it was never enough.

He cleared his throat, unsure how to comfort Sokka with something he himself still struggles with, “You are useful to the team. Just not in this instance.”

Sokka just slumped his shoulders at that. Zuko patted his shoulder awkwardly, which didn’t seem to help Sokka’s mood at all, but he could tell the gesture was appreciated.

Momo leapt from Zuko’s shoulder as a stray fireball came at them. Zuko blocked it easily and stomped out the embers on the ground. Sokka sat next to him morosely, Momo chittering on his shoulder. Aang finished off the fire with a large blast of water, unintentionally soaking Sokka and him. Zuko let out a breath, and with it he brought heat to the surface of his skin, making the water dry right off his body.

Sokka glared at him, looking like a drowned mink-cat.

Zuko just offered his hand, “come on, let’s go get some sleep.”

Sokka put his hands on the ground to stand up, refusing Zuko’s offer of help, and moped his way over to Appa.

__*__*__*__

The next day Toph suggested they go out for a ‘hero’s breakfast’. They found a nice restaurant with outdoor seating and everyone made their way to the table except Sokka, who instead sat on the ledge of the patio, his back facing them.

Once they sat down Katara leaned over and whispered to Zuko, “hopefully this gets Sokka out of his funk, I’ve never seen him so down like this.”

Zuko glanced at Sokka, the morning sunlight at odds with the boy’s gloomy mood. Sokka had been upset ever since last night, uncharacteristically ignoring everyone all night and the morning. Zuko had gotten used to Sokka’s loud, constant chatter and it was strangely upsetting to see Sokka so silent.

Zuko shared a concerned look with Katara but said nothing.

Toph, on the other hand, was either oblivious to the overall mood or was (most likely) ignoring it. She bit into a roll and spoke through her food, “I hate being in disguise, I miss the hero worship. Where's the love?”

“Boo hoo,” Sokka snapped, “poor heroes.”

“What’s your problem,” Katara asked, annoyance overshadowing her concern.

Sokka looked back at them, irritated, “all you do is complain. But you have these amazing powers and can do amazing things. I can’t do anything,” Sokka deflated.

“That’s not true,” Katara responded insistently, “you keep us on schedule, you’re funny, and you can read a map better than any of us.”

“Yeah,” Toph interrupted, “I can’t read at all so you’ve got me beat there.”

Sokka just sighed and hung his head dejectedly.

Katara looked extremely concerned now, “I’m sorry you feel that way, but I hope you know that we don’t think of you that way.”

Zuko fidgeted awkwardly, unsure of himself and whether or not to contribute. Of course Sokka was an important part of the group, every team needs a strategist. But Sokka had never been part of a formal war team, so it makes sense that he wouldn’t understand the importance of his role.

Katara glared at Zuko and Aang to contribute.

Aang startled, “yeah, nobody can make jokes like you. I mean look at Katara’s hair, what’s up with that, Right?”

Katara covered her hair self-consciously and glared at Aang, “what’s wrong with my hair?”

Aang spluttered, “no, nothing.”

Aang looked to Zuko for help, to which he shook his head; there was no way Zuko was stepping foot in front of Katara’s potential wrath.

Aang waved his arms frantically, trying and failing to explain, “I was just-”

“Look,” Katara turned her back to Aang, “I know what will make you feel better, Sokka.”

“What?”

“Shopping,” Katara had a knowing look in her eye.

Sokka shot up and ran over to them, “yes let’s go shopping, come on we have to go before all the good stuff is gone.”

They scarfed down their food while Sokka nagged at them to hurry up, and then left the restaurant to walk down the market street. This town was fairly nice and had many burgeoning businesses. The shops ranged from jewelry and clothing to weaponry and armor.

At a small shop, near the entrance of the market street, Zuko picked up a simple tea pot and cups as well as some green and jasmine teas. It was a superfluous purchase, but he couldn’t help himself.

They browsed the vendors, Sokka stopped at a stand every once in a while and talked himself out of every purchase somehow.

They eventually found themselves in front of a large handmade weapons store. Sokka was the first one in and immediately made a racket, trying nearly every weapon the store had. Zuko smiled at his antics as Sokka swung some nunchucks about and nearly took his own head off. The store clerk rushed after him, righting all the things Sokka knocked over.

It was refreshing being around someone who wasn’t a bender. He never felt pressured around Sokka in the same ways that he did around the prodigal benders of their group.

He found himself standing in front of some beautiful dual broadswords. He always excelled at swordsmanship where he failed at firebending. In many ways he preferred the simplistic swords to the difficult to control fire.

“Admiring these swords?” The shopkeep came to stand beside him, apparently Sokka was now distracted with trying to fit into oversized armor.

Zuko shrugged, trying to remain nonchalant in the face of his extreme need for the weapons.

The man side-eyed him, trying to gauge his level of interest, “they were handcrafted by a master.”

Zuko stayed silent, he knew high-end weapons stores weren’t making much money in these areas. Rich in appearance, but not rich enough to waste money on handcrafted weapons mostly used for decoration. He could afford the swords, eventually, he just has to play his cards right.

“These swords are a pair, never to be used individually.”

Zuko hummed, “I can tell.”

“They are a two for one deal,” the man insisted.

Zuko turned to face him, keeping his face void of emotion, “alright.”

The man looked shocked at Zuko’s bluntness and grabbed the swords to ring up. At the end Zuko walked away with the swords at a very good deal and a scabbard tossed in for free.

He wandered aimlessly around the store and promptly found Sokka drooling over an ornate sword.

“Look at this thing Zuko, it’s beautiful.”

Zuko looked closer at the sword, noticing the familiar insignia on the handle. He leaned back and nudged Sokka, who looked awed at the detailed dragon curled along the sheath.

“This was made by my old master, Piandao.”

Sokka now looked at Zuko with awe and he felt flustered at Sokka’s intensity, “that is so cool! I can’t believe you even learned how to use swords when you can use fire.”

Zuko blushed, “I didn’t take to firebending easily, not like my sister, so my father allowed me to study under Piandao for supplementation,” Zuko replied quietly.

“But you’re great at firebending now, at least I think,” Sokka said, turning back to face the sword, “I’m not exactly a firebending expert.”

Zuko lowered his voice and leaned in, “Can you keep a secret Sokka?”

He heard crashing from the other side of the shop and felt secure in the fact that the others were nowhere near.

Sokka nodded conspiratorially, leaning in close as well.

“Do you know the blue spirit?” He asked.

Sokka’s face was scrunched in thought, “the masked vigilante person who broke Aang out of prison that one time? What do they have to do with anything?”

Zuko rolled his eyes, “Sokka, I’m the blue spirit.”

Sokka looked genuinely shocked, looking at Zuko as if he was a different person now, “why didn’t you just break him out in a blazing ball of fire?”

Zuko was beginning to think Sokka might be a moron, it was a cute look on him but Zuko preferred when Sokka wasn’t being so obtuse, “some things require stealth and smarts, I would’ve been executed on the spot if they knew it was me,” there was a stifled silence before Zuko awkwardly offered, “Piandao lives nearby, he would probably accept you as a student on my recommendation.”

Sokka looked at him hopefully, it looked much better on him than his earlier doom and gloom.

“Are you guys done over there?” Katara asked, rounding a corner of the shelves holding the longspears.

They reared back, just now realizing how close they were standing.

“Y-Yeah,” Sokka stuttered, “let’s go.”

The shopkeep happily ushered them out with strained appreciation. They made their way back, Aang telling them all about a new glass-blown marble he bought, which Toph immediately stole and tried to bend. Zuko easily took the lead as the two bickered and guided them to Piandao’s estate.

“Zuko where are you taking us?” Sokka asked, “camp is to the west, not east.”

“I’m taking you to Piandao, I told you.”

Sokka rushed up from the back of the group, grabbing Zuko’s arm and stopping him, “we don’t have time for that.”

Zuko knew that Sokka had gotten them ahead of schedule because he was gloating about it all day yesterday. Zuko gave Sokka a stern glare, “you should at least just talk to him, he is a master swordsman, he might even give you a sword as a gift.”

Sokka looked skeptical. Zuko knew Piandao wouldn’t just hand out swords, but he also knew Sokka couldn’t refuse a good bribe.

“That’s a great idea,” Katara interjected, “I would’ve never gotten to where I am without master Pakku, everyone needs a teacher.”

“Fine,” Sokka tried to maintain his skepticism, but Zuko could tell he was excited.

Zuko directed them the rest of the way to Piandao’s large estate. He told Katara, Aang, and Toph to hide behind a large bush while he spoke with Sokka at the end of the drive.

“Just tell him I sent you. That should get you in the door at the very least.”

Sokka just glared at Zuko, “and what if they try to kill me because you are banished and have a bounty on your head?”

Admittedly, Zuko didn’t think that far ahead, “then just try not to die. We’ll wait back here for you so Toph can keep a look out if things go south. But my uncle said Piandao is trustworthy and I believe it, so don’t worry.”

“Jee, thanks, I’m glad your uncle trusts him,” Sokka wrung his hands together nervously before setting his shoulders back and standing up straight, “okay, I’ll be fine, I won’t die. I won’t die.”

Zuko gave him a thumbs up and hid behind the bush with the others.

“Great pep-talk Sparky,” Toph said sarcastically.

They watched Sokka furiously bang the door knockers and a disgruntled employee open the door. Sokka said something to the man behind the door and he looked shocked before opening the door in invitation. Sokka waltzed proudly into the palace and the doors shut heavily behind him.

__*__*__*__

Once Toph deemed it unlikely for Sokka to die they made their way back to camp. Zuko decided to use this free time to finally do laundry down at the nearby brook.

It was a difficult transition at first, at least in Ba Sing Se he had an actual apartment, but now he was becoming used to having almost no privacy and never feeling clean. He started to cherish these moments, just sitting by the babbling water and cleaning up without anyone around.

He scrubbed his shirts thoroughly with soap and hung them in some low hanging branches. He trusted Toph to tell him if someone stole his clothes, but there was a small chance she’d let it happen just to mess with him.

He undressed and quickly washed himself off in the brook, scrubbing as much grime as possible out of his hair. He felt halfway human now as he stepped out of the brook and focused his firebending to dry off his skin.

It says something sad about his life that this was one of the best days he’s had since his time in Ba Sing Se and all he’s done is gone shopping, done laundry, and bathed.

He walked back into camp to find the other three lazily reclined in a circle with Katara finishing a joke that was met with sighs from the other two.

“Aang,” Zuko stomped over and put his hands on his hips, “get up, we should use this time to practice firebending.”

Aang groaned, “do we have to, can’t I have one day without homework?”

Zuko gaped at that, “homework? This isn’t homework. You have to face the firelord soon and you will have to be prepared, you're so far behind on firebending already.”

Aang sat up, “but we’re gonna be there during the eclipse so learning firebending is moot at that point.”

Zuko was just about ready to yank his hair out. He’s had similar types of conversations just about every other day with Aang. His desire to avoid firebending at all costs irritated Zuko to no end.

“The eclipse only lasts a few minutes, now come on,” Zuko grabbed Aang’s collar and dragged his limp body to a nearby clearing.

Aang was pouting and had dirt all along his pants now, but Zuko didn’t care. He grabbed a stick and lit it on fire. He handed it to Aang and sat next to the boy.

The camp was eerily quiet. Zuko fidgeted and kept opening his eyes to peek at Aang's process. He felt unsettled and he couldn’t figure out why, but he knew something was off.

Toph sighed loudly, “I miss Sokka.” Katara and Aang mumbled in agreement.

The only longing Zuko had ever felt was for his family. That feeling was a breath-shattering chest pain that took years to lessen, but never really went away. He supposed that he could feel that on a much smaller scale for Sokka. He saw Sokka as a sort of equal, being only one year apart, but without the other boy by his side he felt like a mother turtleduck with three turtleducklings bumbling about aimlessly.

“Zuko, I did it,” Aang shouted, shocking Zuko out of his thoughts. Aang leapt at Zuko and hugged him tight and Zuko patted his back, unsure of what was happening.

Aang pushed out of the hug and waved a half-burnt stick victoriously.

“You used firebending to put that out, right?” Zuko trusted Aang, but he just wanted to make sure.

Aang dropped the stick dejectedly, “of course I did, weren’t you watching me?”

“Oh, uh yeah I was,” Zuko fumbled for an excuse, “I’m making sure you didn’t cheat with airbending. Great job Aang.”

Aang puffed back up and strutted around the camp like a proud pea-goose.

Katara rolled her eyes but smiled, “you won’t get him to work for the rest of the day now.”

Zuko sat in the small circle, “at least he’s getting somewhere with it. Did he struggle as much with waterbending?”

“No, he took to waterbending like, well like a turtleduck to water,” Katara replied.

“He sucks at earthbending though,” Toph said, laying on her back and picking her nose.

They lapsed into silence. Aang eventually settled down enough to join them which apparently restarted the pity party from earlier.

“Do you know any jokes, Zuko?” Katara asked him.

He thought about it for a minute. The only jokes he heard were from his uncle, which made his chest ache just to think about.

“My uncle told this one funny joke. I don’t know how it starts but the punchline is ‘leaf me alone, I’m bushed’.”

“That was worse than Katara’s,” Aang said, still holding onto the half-burnt stick.

__*__*__*__

They really shouldn’t be here. It’s a huge liability if Piandao or his employees find Zuko. But they all wanted to check in on Sokka. He’d been gone all day, plus Sokka was making a sword out of a meteorite, the curiosity got the best of them.

Aang and Katara snuck in first, peeking into the metalworking shop cautiously. Once their curiosity was sated they walked back to Toph and Zuko to hide in some bushes. 

Toph tiptoed with him to the shop. Toph stood behind him, close enough now to see what Sokka was doing more clearly with her feet. Zuko peeked around the edge of the wooden wall and swore he got heart palpitations. He was not prepared to see a sweaty Sokka kneeling shirtless before a large fire, fanning the flames with an air pump. He also was not prepared for his reaction to seeing that, his face was on fire and he was burning all over, his heart fluttering and erratic.

“Quit it,” Toph whispered and punched his arm, “I can feel your heart from here and I do not need to see you drool over Sokka.”

Zuko just ushered Toph back to the bushes and tried to calm down while hiding his embarrassment. 

What just happened to him.

__*__*__*__

Sokka was gone all night as well, but showed up in the early hours of the morning to invite them to a ceremony. Zuko hid just outside the actual building, listening in, while everyone else sat inside and watched.

It was nice hearing Piandao shower Sokka with compliments. He thought he’d feel jealous, considering his old master was sparse with compliments when Zuko trained with him, but he didn’t feel that way at all. Instead he felt proud.

It should’ve been an easy in and out with Sokka walking away with a new sword and newfound confidence. But Sokka was too good of a person to just lie to someone he respected. Sokka told Piandao that he’s water tribe and Zuko tensed, ready to fight or run.

Zuko heard the clattering of swords and ran inside. Sokka and Piandao were facing off, Sokka waved off everyone else and told them, “no, this is my fight,” with authority.

His old master didn’t even spare Zuko a glance as they all moved outside. Piandao and Sokka faced off at the center of the formal dueling area that Zuko himself had been in many times before, although rarely actually against his master. The air was still with tension; the worst of it coming from Katara, her hands clasped together and unyielding fear in her eyes.

Master piandao took the offensive, strong parries and jabs that shocked Sokka off balance. It was an interesting fight to watch. Piandao was fast and practiced whereas Sokka was using his environment to fight more so than his sword. Zuko felt a bubbly pride overcome him and he couldn’t suppress a smile at how far Sokka was able to go in just one day.

The dueling pair quickly moved out of the small arena as Sokka jumped around. Sokka led Piandao into the miniature bamboo forest, the sounds of Sokka’s yelps and Piandao’s compliments echoed out. Soon enough Sokka came out the other end of the trees, hair slowly falling out of his small bun and panting hard.

Sokka nearly took the lead by blinding Piandao with dirt and staying silent, but he immediately lost focus of his surroundings and stepped on a stray twig. After that Piandao easily took Sokka out.

Zuko was honestly a little surprised at how long Sokka held out.

Piandao hovered his sword over Sokka’s face, ending the duel. Zuko leisurely hopped the railing and landed with the others; who landed in stiff fighting stances, waiting for any notion of ill inventions from his old master.

“Great job, Sokka,” Piandao lowered his sword, “and welcome back Prince Zuko.”

Zuko couldn’t help but bow out of habit, “thanks for not killing my friends.”

Piandao wiped the dirt delicately from his face with a white cloth given to him by his servant, “any time,” he laughed, “I’m much too old to be fighting the Avatar anyways.”

Sokka seemed to shake off the shock and stood up, his face still scrunched in confusion. Zuko took a moment to admire the visual of the other boy’s efforts; Zuko was having a difficult time keeping his emotions in check now that he saw Sokka in a new light. He knew that Sokka was intelligent and caring, based on what Zuko knew of Sokka’s invasion plans and the schedules. But now he saw that intelligence in action, and paired with his disheveled look made Zuko feel things he did not have time to dissect right now.

“Why did you teach Sokka if you knew he was from the water tribe?” Katara asked Piandao, uncertainty and distrust clear on her face.

“The art of the sword is not bound to one nation,” Piandao sipped his tea. Zuko’s heart panged at the deja vu feeling he got in regards to his uncle.

“Sokka, you must continue your training,” Piandao said firmly, “if you continue on this path I know that one day you will become an even greater master than me.”

“Not if I get there first,” Zuko shouted indignantly, having heard something similar in his youth.

Sokka just stuck his tongue out at Zuko and crossed his arms like a child.

“Well if either of you can beat me then we can figure out which of you is better,” Piandao smiled and shooed them off, telling them off for making him late for his next meal.

They made their way out of the large estate, Sokka annoying and prodding Zuko the whole way out. Sokka having a big head about his abilities was quickly becoming the bane of Zuko’s existence.

“Cut it out!” Zuko shouted at Sokka, who was previously nudging Zuko in the head with the hilt of his longsword. Sokka startled at his shout for a moment but quickly transitioned to yanking on tufts of Zuko’s hair.

Zuko slapped Sokka’s hand away and they quickly devolved into a slapping match.

“Um, Prince Zuko, Sokka, I was told to give you this,” Piandao’s servant interrupted before they left the large double door entrance. The man handed off a small bag to Zuko and they all bowed to him in thanks.

“What is it?” Sokka asked, trying to steal the bag from Zuko’s hands.

“Give me a second,” Zuko untied the string and dumped a small wooden disk into his palm.

Zuko couldn’t breathe.

“A pai sho tile?” Sokka queried.

“A white lotus tile,” Aang added.

“What does it mean?” Katara tilted her head, trying to get a better look at the tile in Zuko’s hand.

“The white lotus,” Zuko took a steadying inhale, “it has to lead to my uncle.”

Katara seemed to sense his tumultuous mood and placed a hand comfortingly over his, “we are going to find him Zuko.”

“Why would Piandao want Sokka to find your uncle?” Toph seemed genuinely confused, which was fair because Zuko was also confused as to why the servant said the tile was for both him and Sokka.

“I have no idea,” Zuko delicately put the tile in his pocket and they trudged off back to camp.

__*__*__*__

It was already late in the day when they left Piandao’s estate so by the time they reached camp the sun was nearing the mountains. Zuko set up the fire per usual, but Sokka pestered him the entire time.

“Did you see the way I totally whooped Piandao’s ass,” Sokka prodded Zuko with a stick that Sokka had collected earlier; supposedly for the fire and not for annoy Zuko purposes, but Sokka seemed intent on misusing the sticks.

“I was there,” Zuko carefully lit the kindling on fire, “I’ll be impressed when you actually win,” Zuko replied grudgingly, not wanting to give away how impressed he was considering Sokka was a natural as he’d never had any long term formal training.

Sokka dropped the small bundle of sticks and stomped his foot angrily, “are you kidding? I can and will beat him the next time we duel. I bet you’re just scared that I’m better than you,” Sokka teased.

It gave Zuko a bittersweet sense of nostalgia for Azula.

“I know I’m better than you,” Zuko said evenly, “but my honor requires that I accept your request for a duel so I can crush you.”

“Yay!” Sokka shouted and threw his hands in the air victoriously and ran off to a nearby clearing, moving rocks and dragging his homemade sword through the dirt to make a ring.

Zuko did a few warm up stretches and grabbed his new swords from his pack. He entered the ring and stood across from Sokka. He readied into a neutral stance and waited.

“Wooh! Go Zuko!” Toph screamed, startling both of the boys.

“No, go Sokka!” Katara shouted in response.

Zuko moved back into his original stance and waited for Sokka to be ready. He kept his face neutral but felt an incessant need to win now that they had an audience. Sokka’s face was less neutral than his, a stern frown of concentration on the other boy’s face.

Sokka took the first shot, which Zuko dodged easily by turning to the side. Sokka got a few good moves in, nearly taking down Zuko, but Sokka was constrained to the ring he made and was unable to strategize against Zuko. It was a relatively easy win for Zuko, using Sokka’s momentum against him.

Toph let out a blood curdling screech that sounded close to joy, but came off as just a loud noise that she pointed at Katara to annoy the other girl.

“Rematch!” Sokka jumped to his feet.

Zuko nodded and got back into a readied stance, this time going immediately for Sokka’s sword with both of his and knocking the space sword out of Sokka’s hands.

“Wait, another rematch,” Sokka picked up his sword and dusted it off.

Thus started an endless stream of ‘rematches’ whereby Sokka lost by a wide margin nearly every time. Toph started with endless gloating to Katara, but eventually got bored and went back to the campsite. Katara tried cheering Sokka on without Toph’s derogatory comments, but soon enough she tapped out too, citing the rising moon and heading straight to her sleeping bag. Aang had watched the first few matches but left to do some chores, hopefully that included his laundry because the kid was starting to stink.

“Okay, one last rematch,” Sokka panted, his legs trembling slightly in exhaustion.

“Go to sleep already!” Toph shouted from her rock tent.

Zuko himself felt absolutely drained, “last one for real this time.”

Sokka nodded enthusiastically but was barely able to hold his sword straight. Zuko made the first move and Sokka simply stepped far enough away so they weren’t in melee range anymore and reached behind his head to whip his boomerang at Zuko’s face.

Zuko ducked and thankfully avoided a black eye, but now he was fuming, “we were sword fighting you can’t just throw a boomera-” Zuko was cut off as the boomerang hit him hard and fast in the back of his head. He dropped his swords and clutched his throbbing head as he fell to his knees in pain.

Sokka ignored Zuko and did a victory lap shouting, “I won! I beat you Zuko, suck on that!”

“One to fifteen, good job Sokka now go to sleep already,” Toph pleaded, sounding close to earthbending them both to another town.

Sokka sauntered over and offered a hand up, “let’s go soak our muscles. Now that we are both master swordsmen we will be in high demand for fighting, so we better rest up.”

Zuko rubbed the sore spot and rolled his eyes as he grasped Sokka’s calloused hand and stood up.

They wandered down to the brook where Zuko’s now dry clothes hung. The moon was high in the sky, but the hot summer night made a dip in the brook sound heavenly just about now.

He removed his tunic thoughtlessly, but paused at his pants in a moment of insecurity; he took a steadying breath and quickly removed his clothing, sans underwear, and went straight for the intimidatingly freezing water. His breath caught in his chest at the shock of cold before easing into a steady tempo as he slowly became accustomed to the water’s temperature.

He quickly dunked his head and scrubbed at his scalp for a moment. He breached the surface of the water and looked around for Sokka. The other boy surfaced and Zuko couldn’t help but stare as the moonlight hit Sokka and enhanced his dark features. Zuko felt unnaturally warm in the cold water, he felt hypnotized by Sokka in this moment.

Sokka turned from wringing out his hair to look at Zuko. He could feel himself blushing and hoped the moon wasn’t bright enough to sell him out.

Zuko broke eye contact first, unsure what to do with all these unnamable feelings. He never felt a particular pull like this to any person. He thought he knew this feeling when he would watch Mai practice with her knives as kids, but now he’s beginning to think that he had a crush on Mai’s marksmanship and skill, rather than on the girl herself.

He’s never had to think about his personal feelings on relationships. He’d always assumed he would be forced into an arranged marriage, and once he was banished he was too focused on returning his honor to even consider the frivilosity of attraction. And now it was hitting him all at once, his emotions were out of control and his heart was sure to beat right from his chest.

He could hear the water swishing as Sokka made his way over to him. He tried to control his breathing, but he felt nervous under Sokka’s studious gaze.

“How’s your head?” Sokka asked in a soft voice, barely above a whisper, and lifted his hand to feel the tender spot from Sokka’s boomerang. Sokka carefully felt around the forming goose-egg and winced.

“Sorry, I threw it harder than I thought,” Sokka kept his hand tangled in Zuko’s hair, warm breath faintly ghosting over Zuko’s face.

Zuko struggled to speak, absolutely mortified at his bumbling reaction, “oh, um, that’s okay, it doesn’t hurt that much anymore.”

Sokka’s face turned soft and knowing, “you know I missed you while I was gone. It was weird because for so long you were the terrible haircut firebender who was trying to imprison my friend. Now you are part of my disconcertingly small friend group.”

Zuko held Sokka’s mesmerizingly steady gaze and whispered, “I missed you too,” unable to say anything more.

Sokka glanced down and appeared to lose his edge as he asked, “can I kiss you?”

Zuko pushed through the wave of shock and nodded.

It was so soft and tender and chaste and it felt amazing. His lips felt so sensitive that the meager brush of their lips made his head light. Sokka pulled back, face flushed and eyes wide.

Sokka sounded bewildered and astonished as he spoke “we should probably go back to camp.” He untangled his fingers from Zuko’s damp hair and took a step back.

Zuko felt on fire and was barely able to get out, “go ahead. I still need to fold my clothes.”

Sokka seemed uncertain now, but still moved to the bank and redressed.

Zuko just needed a moment to process everything.

Once Sokka dressed he gave Zuko one last lingering look before walking out of view to the camp. Zuko took a shaky breath and waded to his hanging clothes. He snatched them off the branches and methodically folded them into compact rectangles, saving one clean outfit to change into.

His lips still tingled and he desperately wanted to seek out Sokka right now. He felt hot and cold and warm and shocked, just a mess of different feelings swirling flirtingly in his gut.

He hauled his clothing to his bag and repacked. The fire’s flame was now low, barely embers at this point, but it was enough to highlight Sokka’s wandering eyes from his spot in his sleeping bag. He seemed concerned and looked at Zuko questioningly. Zuko just nodded, whatever happens tomorrow they’ll be okay. Unless Katara finds out, then she may just smite Zuko on the spot.

He climbed into his sad bedding and closed his eyes, but he couldn’t fall asleep, his mind running rampant with random flittering thoughts that he couldn’t remember after they passed. He eventually heard Sokka’s signature soft snoring, but he didn’t fall asleep until the dark night under the moon turned to the soft light of daybreak.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Listen, Sokka is way ahead of Zuko on the whole crush front. We all know that Zuko is the last one on the uptake in absolutely every single situation.
> 
> I wanted to do an insane slow burn, but unless I make Zuko an absolute idiot, like himbo levels of dumbass, then I can’t really force them to be apart for no reason. Especially considering how ride or die Sokka was for Suki, like he just goes ham in relationships.


End file.
